Wow...this weekend with Amanda went so quickly, but we had such a great time and saw so many things! I hope she had as good of a time as I did.
The weekend started out with me taking the bus to Madrid to pick Amanda up at the airport. Unfortunately, I got to the bus station about 2 minutes late, and had to watch my bus pull out without me...oops! It wasn't too bad, I just had to wait an hour for the next one, and was a tiny bit late for picking up Amanda. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend while she was here, which made this trip so much more enjoyable than my past couple trips.
After checking into our hostel right by the Puerta del Sol, we walked to the Jardines de Buen Retiro, and saw most of this huge park. We also walked around town to take pictures of the beautiful buildings, and of course, my favorite painted bulls. :)
We stayed out for supper (Amanda even made it to 9:00...way to go!), but then called it a night and hung out at our hostel. We shared a room with 4 other travelers, and we ended up chatting for a very long time. It's so interesting to hear about people's travels and how they came to be in Madrid.
Saturday was our very busy day in Madrid. We began with a 4 hour free walking tour of the city. I'm so glad we found that tour, because we got to see SO much and learned a ton about the history of Madrid. Some of the highlights of our tour were the Puerta del Sol, the Royal Theater and Palace, the "Suicide Bridge", the oldest restaurant in the WORLD (just ask Guinness...), the Plaza Mayor, the hotel where the celebrities, matadors, and soccer players stay when they are in Madrid, the house where Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quijote) lived and died, and the Congress house that was taken over in a failed coup in 1981. Our tour guide was very funny and we all learned so much.
After our tour, I really wanted to see the giant bullfighting ring in Madrid, so we took the metro to go see that. Unfortunately, we were too late for a tour inside, but even the outside was beautiful and fun to see. I also wanted to get a tour of the soccer arena where Real Madrid plays, but there was a game that night, so we coudn't go on the whole tour. I'll definitely have to do that my next time in Madrid though!
After the bull ring, we went back to the other side of town to see the Prado and the Reina Sofia museums. I hadn't been in the Reina Sofia before, so that was a lot of fun. It was a more contemporary museum with many works by Picasso and Salvador Dali.
I felt like we saw a lot of Madrid for 1 1/2 days, and our feet felt that way too! We then took an overnight bus to Nerja for some rest and relaxation on the beach. I was worried about not getting enough sleep on the bus, but with the help of Advil PM and a pretty empty bus to sleep in, I got a great night's sleep.
We began our day in Nerja with a quick stop and my favorite donkey reservation. Amanda wasn't quite sure about the animals at first, but I think she warmed up to them eventually. It was a lot of fun to visit the reservation again.
We then met my friends Lisa and Nick for a day at the beach, which was so incredibly nice...we couldn't have asked for a better beach day! We spent hours enjoying the sun and cooling off by the cold sea. It was so relaxing after our busy weekend in Madrid.
Nick and Lisa went home in the evening, so Amanda and I searched out a Spanish menú for supper. We were able to try all the famous Spanish dishes, including "paella"(a famous dish usually made with fish or meat and rice) y "tortilla española" (an egg dish with potatoes cooked into them).
The next day we trekked up to the caves, which were very fun to see again. They are so beautiful, and I think Amanda really liked them too. After the caves, we had just enough time to eat a quick lunch on the beach before we had to catch a bus to Granada.
Our hostel in Granada wasn't great, but it was pretty close to my house, which was nice. We settled in, and then made a trek to the Mirador de San Nicolas to see the Alhambra. I only got a little lost, and we made it in time to see the sun setting and the lights on the Alhambra. It was so beautiful. I hadn't even been up there at night, so it was fun for me too. Amanda still hadn't gotten used to the crazy hills of Spain since obviously Iowa and the Netherlands are ridiculously flat, but she was a trooper, and we climbed pretty far.
After our climb, we treated ourselves to tapas. We went to places that had huge tapas, because we didn't want to buy supper. :) They were delicious, and Amanda was a big fan of the tapas tradition of Spain as well. I actually just had a class last night with José about the history and tradition of tapas. He gave us a lot of great information, as well as a list of all his favorite tapas places! Hopefully by the end of the semester, we will have tried all the best tapas dishes in Granada. :)
Tuesday was Amanda's last full day in Granada, so after my morning classes, we made sure to make the visit to the Alhambra. It was another beautiful day, so I took some much prettier pictures than the dreary day we were there last month. It wasn't super busy either, so it was a very enjoyable visit.
I had a few evening classes, but after class, we headed over to my house for supper! I was very excited for Amanda to see my family and see what a great cook Paqui is. It was a loud crazy meal, as usual, but I think she enjoyed herself, despite the huge language barrier. She got to have more tortilla española (I told you it was a common dish here!) along with soup and pork and fruit. It was very fun.
We went out for one last night of tapas after supper to finish off her visit to Granada. She left today after a breakfast of chocolate and churros, and a last minute instruction session on how to get back to the Madrid Airport. It was so fun having her here and being "tour guide and hostess" for the week. It makes me sad that all of you can't see what my life is here, because it really is impossible to describe until you experience it. Hopefully this blog and my pictures at least give you a glimpse into my life here. It's fun sharing it with you! :) Anyway, I'm sure this is ridiculously long, so I'll leave, but I hope everyone has a great end of the week and weekend. Miss you all!
