Royal Palaces, Picasso and Dalí, and a Spanish Bullfight!

Since I only had one short day in Madrid, I read my guidebook on my 6-hour bus ride up and had the next day planned with a list of things to accomplish. But by 9:30 am the next morning, my friend Stephanie and I had already crossed three of 6 things off our list. At that pace, we were going to have to come up with new things to do!! We went to see the main square, Plaza del Sol, and another one called Plaza Mayor. Then we walked to City Hall and to the Royal Palace. We went into the Royal Palace and a church across the street, and by the time we finished it was only 11 am!

Plaza Mayor

Oldest Door in Spain

Royal Palace

 We walked towards an indoor food market we found to buy some food for a picnic for lunch in the Retiro Park by the Prado museum. After lunch, we walked around the park, which was beautiful and full of life with performers from bands to puppeteers and dog trainers. The next stop was the Prado art museum, which was cool to see but there's only so much art my brain can handle. The museum map had a list of all the famous paintings, so we treated it like a scavenger hunt and crossed off every single one of them! But nothing beats Michelangelo's David in Florence.

Then we walked to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum. We saw Picasso's Guernica, which was absolutely amazing. I enjoyed seeing the art by Picasso and Dali, but to my uncultured eye, everything else just looked like the usual modern art.

Overall, Madrid was a cool city, but it didn't have anything that set it apart from being just another big city.  Parts of it, like the Gran Via, felt like a street in New York City, while other parts, like Plaza Mayor, felt like a traditional European city. I was debating whether or not I should even go to Madrid, but I am very happy that I got to spend the weekend in Spain's capital.

But the most exciting thing was what I did when I came back from Madrid. I went to a Spanish Bullfight! It is by far the highlight of my semester, if not my year. I loved it.

Since I didn’t know much about bullfighting to begin with, I thought that the spectacle consisted of a man with a red cape and a sword chasing a bull to kill it. I could not have been farther from the truth.

Before the bullfight

Bullfighting is an art. It is not gruesome, nor is it bloody. It is a cultural sport, and requires technique, patience and finesse. In every bullfight there are three matadors and six bulls.  Each matador takes on two bulls: the first and the fourth, the second and the fifth, and the third and the sixth.

Each round takes about 20 minutes and there are 4 stages.  First, the trumpets sound which signals that the bull is to be released from the pen.   He charges into the ring and the banderilleros try to rile him up with the bright pink and yellow capes. 

Banderillero

Then come the two men on armored horses who have long javelin like spears used to spear the back of the bull.  Once he is speared twice, the trumpets sound signaling that it’s now the picadors turn.  

Guy on the horse spearing the bull

The picadors have the worst job in my opinion. They are the guys who “prepare” the bull for the matadors by literally charging the bull and stabbing to spears into the bulls back.  The bull usually gets worked up and charges the picadors who jump over the wall for safety.  There are three picadors and a total of six spears.

Then comes the matador. He walks out with his sword and his red cape. (Fun fact: bulls are colorblind, so the red means nothing to them. It used to uphold tradition.) The matador uses his cape in a series of passes which serve to wear the bull down and to put on a show for the audience. While this is happening, the bull is literally inches away from the matador. Finally, when he senses the moment is right, the matador distracts the bull with the red cape, pulls out his sword, and stabs the bull in between the shoulder blades and through the heart.   The bull will stagger to his death and is dragged out of the ring by three horses.

Matador with the cape

Drawing the sword in preparation

Final stab

Bullfighting is such a unique cultural experience, and even though it is quite sad that 20 minutes after the bull charges into the ring, he will be dead, the process is truly an art form. 

Eating Our Way through Italy

Sevilla has a festival called Feria. I don't know exactly what the significance is, but it's a week of drinking, partying, and dancing, none of which I particularly enjoy. So for me, it translated into 12 days off of school, which obviously meant 12 days of travel.  Destination Italy. Venice, Florence, Rome, Pisa, and Milan to be more exact.

I went with 3 other girls from the program, but they only stayed until Rome. My friend Alex came to meet me in Rome at the end of the week, the day the others had left.

We started our tour of Italy in Venice. Our flight left at 6:30 am, so it was quite the early morning. By the time we got to Venice, our bodies were convinced it was about 3 in the afternoon, but it was actually only noon! We couldn't even check into the hotel yet. We sat at a cafe until check-in time and made a plan. Pizza, bakery, walk around, shop, and early to bed. Everything was great until the shopping part. We soon found out that Venice is famous for masquerade masks. Apparently, back in the day, people would wear masks on a daily basis, and later they morphed into more of a costume thing. The bright colors, the glitter and the feathers immediately caught our attention. So we spent the next two hours trying on masks. And we were serious the whole time. We weren't trying on for fun, we were trying on for fit, comfort, style and colors to complement the eyes. We went to multiple stores, and all four of us found the masks that were perfect for our faces. Since it began to rain, we went back to the hostel, and the most logical thing to do next was try on the masks and take pictures in different poses with different faces. Thus commenced the two hour photo shoot. We did self timer, we built a sturdy tripod for the right angle, we switched off photographers, we changed our lineup, and we adjusted each other's masks. These masks were no joke. When we travelled, the first thing we did when we got to our next hotel was a mask check to make sure it was still in tact. We even have outfits planned around our masks to wear to the masquerade party we have tentatively planned for next semester.

The other major souvenir/gift item Venice is famous for is it's blown glass. The island of Murano is full of art shops and glass factories, so of course we made a stop. We bought earrings, rings, necklaces in almost every shop we went into. I even bought blown glass cuff links for my brother! In order to get to the island, we had to take a water taxi. We bought our (unnecessary) ticket and boarded the boat. We got on the correct boat, but for some reason it skipped the Murano stop the first time around, so instead of being the next stop, we made our way around the entire city of Venice, then over to Murano. We justified the hour and a half long ride as our tour of the city by boat, instead of paying for an 80 euro gondola ride!

Venice was really interesting just to walk around. We visited St. Marks Basilica, we went into the Doge's Palace, and we went to see the famous bridge. Venice was at the top of my list of places to visit while in Europe, and it has been one of my favorite cities so far (Paris is hard to beat!). A city of canals, bridges, and boats...unique and incredible.

Our next stop was Florence, the renaissance capital of the world. It literally was like stepping back in time. The buildings kept their renaissance character, which gave the small city a quaint feel. It was unique.

Duomo

Vecchio Bridge

After dropping our stuff off, we crossed the famous Vecchio Bridge,  and then  walked around the main square by the duomo (main cathedral), until we got hungry and found a little pizza restaurant. Our next order of business was gelato (obvi) and as we were sitting at dinner Anna said "hey guys we should go that way after dinner to get gelato because I see people coming from there with amazing looking gelato".  So that way we went.  As we rounded the corner, what did we see? The 4 magic letters GROM! So we grommed it for the second time that day! But Florence introduced us to the "three flavor medium cone". Venice had withheld the information! So we took advantage of the extra scoop.

Yes, we were this close to the dome.

The next day was Monday, so all the museums were closed, so we went to the Duomo. The inside wasn't nearly as pretty as the outside. Kind of a let down if you ask me. But not only could you go in, but you could go up too! I am not one for heights, so the prospect of climbing a 1,000 ft dome was not my idea of a fun time. I knew I would regret it if I didn't go up, so up I went. It was quite scary, not because of the height (the stairs were all enclosed) but the majority of the way was the small/narrow circular staircases, and for a portion of it, the way up and down were the same. So there were two lines of people going up and down the circular staircases at the same time. Then, the stairs literally changed to a 90 angle climb. I wish I had taken a picture, but I was too focused on not dying. The view from the top was beautiful and well worth the climb. From the rolling hills of the Tuscan country side to the narrow streets of Florence, it was all visible.

View from the top of the Duomo

Once back on the earth, we walked to the leather market. Florence is known for its street market, so why not take advantage of it?! While we were shopping, we stumbled upon the Florence food market too! We were shopping around the market for pasta, pasta sauce, when we stumbled upon the dried fruit lady! All four of us filled a bag with dried fruit for an on-the-go snack, but some got more carried than others (cough, cough, Anna). She ended up paying 15 euros for dried fruit (that's about $22). So from then on, a bag of dried fruit became the unit of measurement when it came to paying. A 30 euro shirt? Why not? It's only two bags of dried fruit!

The leather market was such a success for all of us that we decided to come back for round two the next day. And by successful, I mean we all found something(s) we wanted but had to sleep it. Of course the next day we came back and bought all of that and then some!

After the leather market was the meal that we met Pino. Beth had a friend studying in Florence so she took us to lunch at a local panini shop. Pino's panini shop! I don't really know why it was so good, but it was like a normal deli, but a normal Italian deli is a gourmet deli in US standards! But his panini and drink were 4 euros and were better than any 12 euro pizza I had! We might have gone to Pino's three times in the span of 36 hours. We also might have gone two of those times in the span of 4 hours. No big deal.

We spent the afternoon climbing hills. We wanted to go to Michelangelo's look out to see the city from a mountain across the river. So we do. But only after taking a random staircase that we thought was a shortcut. Nope. It was a steep climb up to...nothing. So only after we went down the steep hill an up another one did we arrive at the look out.

View of Florence

The next morning, it was pouring rain. At least it was museum and leather market day. We went to go see the  David. Museums aren't my thing, so I was ok with just seeing the David and leaving, which was pretty much exactly what we did. But keep in mind that it's pouring rain, and David is quite famous. There was a line that spanned the block of the museum that we stood in for an hour in the rain. After about 45 minutes Anna and I decided we were done and the decision was on Beth. She said we should wait for 20 more minutes and leave if we weren't inside the museum. So we did, and in 20 minutes we were the next people to enter. Thank goodness one of us had the patience to wait because the David has to be the most impressive art pieces I have ever seen. Well done, Michelangelo!

Then it was back to the leather market and back to Pino! David, purses, Pino, and Grom make for the best day we could have possibly had!

After two and a half days in Florence, it was time to move on to Rome. By the end of the third day, we were struggling to find things to do, so Rome came at a good time. We got in at about 11 and after finding our rather sketchy hostel, we went exploring. First stop, Colosseum!

The girls convinced me to do a tour that would take us down to the bottom section and up to the third level, and it was well worth it. The Roman Forum and ruins were the next stop. We did take a lunch break in between the ancient roman sights, because there's only so much you can take in 3 hours!

We then walked to the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps and back to the hostel. We were all dragging by the time we got back, so we did a pizza take out and went to bed early!

The next morning we went to the Vatican. Since I had already been in once, I decided to not do the museums with the group. I waited in line to get into Saint Peter's Basilica  and went to Mass that I happened to walk in on. After that, I met back up with the group and we walked back across the river to Piazza Nuovo and made a beeline for the Grom (that we may or may not have looked up the night before). We walked back to the Pantheon to go inside, and then back to Piazza Navona to hang out and people watch before we went to dinner.

I provided a running commentary on the unfortunate European PDA that I saw, while Kate offered to take people's pictures after they failed to take selfies. The best moment of sitting in the plaza was when an Eastern European couple asked me to take their picture by the fountain as they did their special pose. I didn't take a good enough picture the first time, and they gave me specific instructions for the second round. Apparently they were pleased with my photography skills, and an hour later they came back to the bench where we were sitting and asked me to take another picture for them! This time they were doing some kind of acrobatic pose and I was supposed to capture it on film. After drawing a crowd, they mastered the pose and I caught it on camera, so my photography skills were no longer needed.

My three travel partners left Friday, but my friend Alex was coming to meet me, and we were staying until Tuesday. That night we went to get pizza and see the Trevi Fountain, and headed back to the hostel to plan the next day. It was her only day in Rome so we had to figure out how to fit everything into one day!

We left bright and early for the Vatican and didn't have to wait at all. We literally walked right in. Then we walked across the river to Piazza Navona to get Grom that I had been talking up the whole time. Since it was only 9:30 am, it wasn't open, so instead we improvised and switched around our plans. We went to the Pantheon, then to Campo dei Fiori to see the market, and bought paninis for lunch. Then we went back to Grom! It still wasn't open, but it would in about 5 minutes. So we waited and were the first grommers of the day! Such dedication and so worth it.

The Colosseum was next, but I waited outside while she went through that and the Roman Ruins. Two times is enough for me, there was no way I was going in for a third time! Ruins only change so much, and the change really only happens in my mental image, not the actual ruins!

So it was 3 pm and we had seen Rome. What to do?! We went back to the Trevi Fountain to see it during the day and went back to the hostel to recover from our early morning and walking filled day. Then we went to dinner at a really cute Italian bakery slash cafe.

Sunday was the day we left for Pisa early in the morning. After a four hour train ride, we made our way tithe leaning tower of Pisa!! I have always wanted to see it and it was worth the stop. I budgeted 6 hours when 3 would have been adequate, but it was still a good day! And fun fact: not only is the tower leaning, but so are the other main buildings. But of course the tower's lean is much more noticeable.

After the stop in Pisa, we took another 4 hour train ride to Milan, the last stop of my Italian adventure. Since we got in at 10:30 pm, we went straight to the hotel and went to bed. But the room was so terrible and the bed was so uncomfortable that it was hard to sleep. We had already made the decision to cancel the second night at the hotel and sleep in the airport, and good thing we did because the airport was just about as comfortable.

Anyway, the first thing we saw was the Duomo in the city center. The inside was not as disappointing as the Duomo in Florence. But the most unique part was the gothic style architecture on the outside. It is the biggest Gothic cathedral in the world, and Sevilla's Cathedral is second! So cross those two off my list of places to see.

Even though it started raining, I still wanted to go up to the roof. But after the Florence Duomo climbing incident, I jumped at the chance to take the lift, even if it cost 5 euros more. I walked around the top, and the view was worth it, no so much for the city but for the roof of the cathedral itself.  Alex met me at the bottom, and since it was pouring rain we decided to take cover in the mall that was right there. We walked around a little bit, then got lunch in the mall. We were running out of things to do since it was raining, so we spent a couple hours at the restaurant. The slow service helped, too, I guess. We then went to the Opera House which was one of my favorite things to see. Alex and I pretended we were dressed up in long ball gowns, waiting for the show to start so we could watch it from our box. Unfortunately, it never did.

Then we went shopping. And by shopping, I mean window shopping. We tried some things on, but there were no purchases. Since Milan is considered the fashion capital of the world, the stores range from H&M to Chanel!

We had plans with my dad's friends who had last seen me in England (when I was 3!). We met at a traditional Milanese restaurant since they were so excited to show us the real Milanese cuisine. I had a beef dish with saffron risotto and it was fantastic! I was even talked into eating raw cow tendon...I manage to swallow it, but there was a point when I didn't think that it was going to make it to my stomach. Great food and great company was the best way to end my 12 days in Italy!

From the restaurant, they took us to the train station and dropped us off by our 11 pm bus to the airport, that was about an hour outside of town. Since our flight was the first flight of the day, there were no buses from Milan to Bergamo that would get is there at 4:30. So we set up camp in the airport with about 100 other people. We claimed a corner and laid our clothes down as a mini mattress. We pulled our hoods over our faces and tried to sleep, as uncomfortable as it was. People were snoring in a deep sleep, and one guy even had a mini blow up mattress!!

Anyway, we made it back to Seville by 9 am, and by 11 I was prepared for the week!

So that was Italy. I miss the salami, the paninis, the pizza, the pesto, and of course GROM! But not to worry, there is one at 77th ad Broadway in New York, so when I visit Michael this summer...Grom will be the first stop!

Spring Break in Malta: Island Hopping in the Mediterranean

My only criteria for my Spanish spring break destination was beach. It didn't matter where the beach was as long as it included sea and sand.  The other criteria was that Ryan Air had to fly to and from Sevilla, since let's face it, Ryan Air has cheap rates.  Malta, a tiny island nation in the middle of the mediterranean was all of the above. 

After staying Barcelona for 3 days, my friend Rianne and I took a 6 am flight to the island.  Greeted with sunny skies and a nice breeze, we both knew it was going to be a good week.  Malta is technically made up of 3 islands: Malta (the main one), Gozo, and Comino (famous for its lagoons, but nobody lives there). We spent the first half of the week on Malta, and then took the ferry over to Gozo to spend the second half. 

We checked into our hostel, which was actually quite nice. Since we had been traveling since 3 am, we took a quick break before exploring. We took a bus to the capital, Valetta, which was right around the bay from where we were staying in Sliema. (Side note: Malta has a fantastic bus system that stops at all the major cities on the island. A 2 euro bus ticket is good for all bus rides throughout the day.) 

We walked around the small capital, and eventually went into the State Palace where the royalty lived and conducted their royal business (whatever that might have been). The armory was converted into a museum of the Knights of Malta, complete with actual armor and swords.  At some point of wandering around the capital, I fell off a step right onto my ankle. By the sounds of the gasps of the onlookers and the amount of pain that I was in, I knew it wasn't good. I got up, immediately fled the scene, and rested a little before we continued on.

Since we were exhausted and I was now injured, Rianne and I decided a trip to the beach was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.  The water was too cold to swim in, but the temperature was perfect for laying out.  After we both got a little red, we decided to explore a little more of Sliema.  We walked around the bay, but my ankle was in severe pain that putting pressure on it was not a good idea.  I stopped at a pharmacy to buy an ankle wrap, but it only helped minimally. 

We went to dinner (the only restaurant we ever at at while we were on the main island), and when we got back to the hotel, I decided that there was no way I could continue walking around Malta with my ankle in the shape that it was in. 

So we went to the emergency room, which just so happened to be a 5 minute walk from the hostel.  I didn't feel the need to see a doctor since I knew it wasn't fractured or broken.  I fractured my ankle before, and this injury was no where near the pain of my fractured ankle. So with total confidence I went up to the desk and asked to have a pair of crutches.  I believe this is exactly what I said, "Can I just have a pair of crutches? I mean, I'll buy them." The receptionist looked at me, a little confused, and told me to go back to the emergency room doctors to ask there. So I repeated my question to the lady behind the desk.  She told me that it wasn't common practice to give somebody a pair of crutches if they haven't seen a doctor, but she said she would ask.  Five minutes later, she came back with a pair of crutches! I was wheeled around the waiting room by a nurse who said that I should really still get an x-ray, so after a little convincing, I agreed.  Of course the x-ray turned out to be fine, but at least it validated my need for crutches.  

The crutches they gave me were the weird European ones with the forearm brace. I was more was more stable hobbling around without them at first, but eventually I got used to them. I asked for the kind that came with the armpit brace, but they laughed at me when I said that since apparently those are the "American crutches" and weren't used in Europe.  They made me feel like I was asking for an automatic car, but all they had to offer was a stick shift. So I was stuck with the European stick shift version of crutches for the week. 

Rianne and I came to the conclusion that even if we made fools out of ourselves by waltzing into the hospital and asking to buy a pair of crutches, we at least proved the entertainment for the night. We were the star of the show: two American girls at the Maltese emergency room causing a ruckus by apologizing for my unshaved legs and asking to buy a pair of crutches without seeing the doctor.  I guess spending the night at the emergency room can actually be fun!

The next day we planned to visit the crypts in a town on the southern part of this island. No pair of European crutches were going to stop me! I even got special attention: people offered me their seat on the bus, they cleared the path in the crypt and on the street, it was great! The best "special treatment" was when we went to visit the Tarxien temple (a temple form 3200 BC). I was crutching up to the ticket counter, when an employee stopped me and told me that I should use a wheelchair to go around the temple.  Before I even had time to say yes or no, he brought out the wheelchair and pretty much forced me into it.  He said the path was too rough for crutches because it was rocky and uneven, but we soon found out that a wheelchair was not the best solution.  Rianne played along and wheeled me around the temple. At times the road was so rough I literally almost fell out of the chair, and at one point there was no ramp up to the sidewalk, so I had to get up and walk up the stairs. When we saw the employee who offered me the wheelchair outside watching (and laughing at) Rianne and I, we realized that we were once again the day's entertainment. Anything for a laugh I guess!

Malta is known for it's beautiful caves and blue water, but also for its ancient ruins which are the oldest on Earth to date. Therefore, the vacation was a mix between ancient ruins and beach.  We spent the last day on the main island on the southern coast.  We visited the BLue Grotto, which is a series of caves, filled with the bluest of blue water.  Coral grew at the bottom of the caves which formed a beautiful purple layer of rock right where the water hit. We took a boat ride around the coast and through the caves...what a way to start the day! Then we made our way to see the best preserved Temples in Hagr Qim and ended the day with a ferry ride to Gozo, where we would spend the rest of the week. 

We had planned for Friday to be the main beach day.  The tiny island of Comino boasted the best beach/swimming area: the Blue Lagoon.  Early Friday morning we made our way down to the harbor and bargained for a boat tour of the Comino caves and the Blue lagoon.  The water was a bright aquamarine color, the sand is a crisp white, and the water is so clear you can see the floor. Even though the water was freezing, Rianne and I braved the temperatures and went for a dip.  Rianne went for several! Later that night, we took a bus to the Azure Window, an imposing rock structure on the side of the west coast of Gozo that somehow had a rectangular cut out in the rock so it looked like a window. 

We ate dinner in Victoria, the main city in Gozo, and since it was Good Friday, there was religious procession through the center of town.  I was excited since I missed all the big processions in Sevilla (the religious procession capital), so the Maltese one would have to do. I went over to stand by the crowd to get a better view, and when I turned around to go back to my pizza awaiting me at the restaurant, I scraped my leg against a stop sign. The pole apparently had two metal screws sticking out at my thigh level. So all of a sudden, I feel my jeans rip completely (to the point that the fabric is flapping) and see two bleeding cuts on my thigh. Great. Now I have a sprained ankle, ripped jeans, and two bloody-potentially-tetanus-ridden cuts. What a week of injuries I had!

The next and last day in Malta, we had until late afternoon to explore before our flight.  We had heard so much about Ramla Bay, a beach with deep red sand and the same beautiful blue water.  When the bus dropped us off, there was no beach in sight.  All we could see was mountains, grass, and goats.  After a 5 minute walk, the beach was visible, and we enjoyed our last beach experience of the week.  It was the perfect way to end our first week of Spring Break!