Adventures through Spain - Madrid and Granada!

Happy November!

This past week, we had our week-long Toussaint vacation. My friends and I were lucky to have the opportunity to travel to Spain! We visited Madrid and Granada, and it was such a wonderful trip! Since there were so many things that happened on the trip, I'll just talk about some highlights!

Tapas and Paella

I have never had paella before, but I have now developed a slight obsession with it. We had some really delicious paella when we were in Spain! Paella is basically a kind of boiled rice, with meat and vegetables. It is traditionally cooked in a large dish, also called a paella.

Tapas is also another Spanish tradition. Instead of eating a full-on 3 course meal, the Spanish like to eat several small dishes. We had delicious tapas like tortillas espagnola (Spanish omelette), croquettes, and paella. (Also - dinner in Spain is around 10pm....)

Before

After

As you can tell, I really like tapas....

Madrid

We spent a total of 4 days in Madrid - 2 in the beginning, and then 2 at the end. Unfortunately, the day we arrived in Madrid, it was pouring! So that was no good. But luckily, we were able to find some hot chocolate and churros, and enjoy those instead. We also took a 3-tour walking tour of Madrid, so we got to see all the main sites: Puerta del Sol, Palacio Real, Theatro Real. We also went to the two most famous museums in Spain: Museo Prada and the Reina Sofia. The Prado had more classical and Renaissance art, including works by Velasquez, El Greco, and Goya. The Reina Sofia is where the Guernica is! We got to see that as well, which was incredible. The museum didn't allow photographs in the gallery where the Guernica was, but we were allowed to take photos elsewhere, so I got some good shots of works of Salvador Dali and Miro. Another spot we hit up with the Mercado de San Miguel. It was an indoor market/eatery, sort of like Quincy Market for any Boston readers! We got delicious froyo, and it was just such a pleasant atmosphere.

My favorite sight in Madrid has to be the Retiro Park. This beautiful park was super large, and had the most amazing leaves and forests. We are right in the transition here from Summer to Fall, so the view was breathtaking. Here are some pictures!

Here is also a picture of the town hall across from Puerta del Sol. The night lights were so beautiful!

Granada

After two days in Madrid, my friend and I took a 5-hour long bus down to Granada, the Andalusian area of the south of Spain. It was a much smaller city, with white-washed buildings and walls. The city is located at the foot of the Alhambra - a Moorish palace and fortress complex from the 14th century. The architecture is full of Arabic influences! Apparently, tickets for the Alhambra are supposed to be reserved well in advance, so when we showed up at our hostel and told them we hoped to see the Alhambra but hadn't reserved tickets, we were judged. So instead, we woke up bright and early on Sunday morning, and walked our way up the giant hill. When we arrived at 7:30am, there was already a long line waiting at the ticket office! As we waited in line, there was a speaker who kept announcing the number of remaining tickets for the day! But thankfully, we were able to get tickets! And it was so well worth it. The Alhambra was spectacular - the garden complex, the Generalife, and the palace complex were so beautifully kept, and the architecture was incredible. From the watch tower, we also got an amazing view of all of Granada. Here are some of my favorite photos. 

Palacio de Generalife

View over Granada!

The main Palace - Court of the Myrtles 

Court of the Myrtles again - we took this photo with many different settings....

View over Granada

Arabic architecture 

We spent a total of SEVEN HOURS at the Alhambra! It was pretty crazy. We hit every single "Do not miss" attraction, and basically all the other attractions. I think it's safe to say we really enjoyed the Alhambra :) 

We got back to Aix last night, and was greeted with a horrible rainstorm. But still - it feels nice to be back in our comfy homes, and to be able to read and understand all the French! 

Coming up this weekend: Olive harvest and Orange (the color) Brunch! 

I hear it already snowed back in Boston! Be safe everybody! 

Dans le Lubéron

Another week has come and gone! I can't believe how fast time is flying by here. It's almost November!

This past week, I had the horrific experience of taking my first French exam! It was truly horrible. The French system is graded on a 20-point scale, and I have been told that we should expect nothing more than a 14 or 15. Anything above a 10 is considered passing. This exam was in my Langues du Monde class - Langues of the World. Studying for this exam involved memorizing the countless African language phylums, and knowing the different characteristics of each family, including things like its order of terms (SVO, SOV, VSO), its "morphologie et phonologie" and just many many other things that I have had no experience with whatsoever in the past. It was an epic journey. There were about 12 questions on the exam, and there were many multi-part questions that were worth no more than 2 points. The first question - worth an overwhelming 3 points - translates to a mini-essay - something I did not realize until after the exam....All in all, I'm not sure I passed. But I find it all strangely amusing. After the exam, the professor went over the answers, but not without laughing and mocking some of the answers she said she read as people turned in their exams. We'll see how it went next Wednesday when we get them back....

Yesterday, our group took an excursion into the Lubéron region! A 1.5 hour drive north of Aix, we visited 3 cities in the region: Roussilon, Gordes, and Sénanques. These little countryside towns were small, quaint, and breath-taking. They were located up in the mountainous roads, so they often had a spectacular view of the fields down below. In Sénanque, we took a tour of the remote and isolated abbey, where fields of lavender once flourished. The season of lavender was back in June/July, so sadly we didn't get to see any! But I can imagine they were beautiful. And of course, since we were traveling with Madame Masson, she ordered an incredible automnal lunch for us at the classy and chic Le Bastide. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves!

Roussillon 

Dessert at lunchtime 

View of Gordes 

L'Abbaye de Sénanque - lavender fields 

Oh and another French adventure this past week! - haircut and perm! You can sort of see it in the photos :) One girl in our group began the trend about a month ago, and my friend and I spontaneously decided to get it done on Thursday, so we went to the same salon. Friday, 5 other girls from our group also headed to the salon. Guess we're all going through a revolutionary hair phase? We all have very limited hair vocabulary, so we mostly just brought photos, and pointed to them, and said something like "Do this, please". But hooray for more French experiences!

4 more days until Madrid and Granada!