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May 12, 2006
A vacation with my fiancé
On Monday May 1, I rode a bus overnight to Madrid. It was a long and restless night as I had expected. We pulled into the Méndez Álvaro bus station around 7:00 in the morning, and as soon as the doors were opened, I was on my feet and hurrying to find the T1 arrival area in Barajas airport. The flight from Philadelphia that I had waited for a few long months was finally on the ground. I watched dozens of people walk through the door with wide eyes and big smiles as they met their people. Then it was our turn. Rebekah came into the room, I called out her name and we were finally together!
Our bus to return to Cádiz didn’t leave until 3:00, so we spent some of our first hours catching up in the airport and then exploring the city. We looked for what appeared to be a park on the metro’s map, but ended up being an industrial area. We eventually moved along to the bus station to begin the long bus ride back to Cádiz. After lots of conversations we made our way into the Tacita de Plata at around 10:30 or so in the evening. Although it was raining some, we were anxious to stretch our legs so we walked part of the way back to Antonio and Isabel’s house. We met my host parents, who were somewhat startled that I would bring my fiancé who was tired from travel and carrying a heavy backpack through the rain to get there. Anyhow we cleaned up, ate some light food and called it a day.
The next few days we spent in Cádiz exploring the city and talking about how many classes I could afford to skip. It was a relaxing time to share together, but we certainly did a lot of things too: visiting the Santa Catalina fortress, walking along the beaches, in the plazas and parks, eating churros with hot chocolate, visiting the museum, meeting host family members, taking in some flamenco, and other activities. On Saturday we took a fun little trip over to El Puerto de Santa María on the boat El Vapor de Cádiz.
The following morning we took a train to the famous Andalucian city of Granada. A quick historical note: in 1492, the Italian Columbus sailed west for Spain and found himself in what he thought was the Indies. That same year the Catholic king Ferdinand of Aragon and queen Isabella of Castile had two other significant kingdom achievements: their Inquisition expelled the Jews from the country and they took control of Granada the last Muslim stronghold of Al-Andalus. The moriscos were the Muslims who stayed and were Christianized, others left and others were killed.
A half millennium later, this history is still told through the architecture throughout the city, and most impressively in the famous Alhambra. Rebekah and I spent the better part of our Monday exploring the different parts of the ancient “red castle.” We began by seeing the oldest part section, the Alcazaba (13th century) which has a great view of the city and the surrounding Sierra Nevada mountains. We continued into the Casa Real, the Palace from the Nasrid dynasty which was filled with halls, fountains, pools, and incredibly detailed designs along the walls and ceilings. Of the later Christian additions, the most significant is the palace of Carlos V. It doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the architecture of the Alhambra, but it’s still an impressive Renaissance work. Up the hill is the Generalife, which is a beautiful gardens area maintained in the ancient Moorish style.
On Tuesday we took some time to explore other corners of the city, including the Albaicín. This neighborhood has some original houses that apparently date back to the 15th century. It was historically an Arab quarter, but today is largely inhabited by gitanos, or gypsies. We took in the two designated look-out points which give another impressive view of the Alhambra, city and mountains.
Rebekah and I decided to move towards Madrid the next day and took the five-hour bus to the capital city. We dropped off our things at a hostel, got a bite to eat, and set out to explore the city some. I had just made contact with the first and cheapest place I found, and we were surprised that it happened to be just a few blocks away from the Royal Palace. Although the large park that sits down the hill behind the Palace was closed for the evening, we had a great view of the sunset from the Palace patio.
The next morning Rebekah and I pulled our things together took our metro ride to the airport. We said our “see you in less than three weeks,” and she made her way to her gate. Until my bus would leave at 3:00 in the afternoon, I tried to entertain myself by walking in the Gran Retiro park and seeing the glass palace and other monuments and buildings there. A long ride back to Cádiz brought our ten-day adventure to a close.
Posted by Derrick at May 12, 2006 09:37 AM