#77 Visit the house in which Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares

This one's for you, Mom. About a month ago, I was researching some day trips to take from Madrid on the weekends and came across a town with windmills like the ones that inspired El Quijote. I went to the bus station here to ask about the bus schedules and prices the week prior. Then, when I got to the bus station to purchase tickets the Saturday that Nicole and I decided to go, I discovered that no, the 11 am bus actually does not stop in Consuegra on Saturdays and the next one that does leaves at 1:15 pm. Considering the trip is over two hours, we decided that wouldn't be worth it. So in a scramble to save our Saturday, we decided to go to Alcala de Henares, one of the more popular (not to mention shorter) day trips from Madrid that (shamefully) neither of us had been to.

Facade of the university

White storks

Alcala is famous for two or three main things: it's university, whose buildings date back to the very end of the 15th century, the birthplace and childhood home of Cervantes, and, less so, the insanely large population of white storks. The original university, the Universidad Complutense, was moved  during the 19th century to Madrid and retains the same name today. The Universidad de Alcala now uses the original buildings (plus new ones; the campus is split in a few locations throughout the city), and you can take a guided tour of them if you visit the city. Every year, the king and queen of Spain present the Premio Cervantes (Cervantes Prize) in the Great Hall of the old university to an important figure in the Spanish-speaking literature world. The prize is a pretty big deal because it commemorates the life work of the writer, rather than just one particular piece of literature, and in addition to the king and queen, many other important people are present for the ceremony.

Don Quijote & Sancho Panza in front of the Cervantes' house.

I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the Cervantes birthplace. The house is overall  interesting enough; the rooms and the furniture are representative of a typical house of the Golden Age of Spain (16th century), and there is a room with various editions (old, new, in foreign languages) of El Quijote. However, there was very little information in the house about...well, anything (his life, the house, rooms, furniture, etc.).
Another place we visited in Alcala was the Corral de Comedias, which is a type of theater typical of the Golden Age of Spain. The one in Alcala is one of the oldest of this type of theater still in existence in Europe. Although it is now enclosed completely, the corral de comedias was an outdoor theater in an interior patio of a block of buildings. The Corral de Comedias in Alcala is located on the main square of the city, the Plaza de Cervantes (in the middle of which is a huge statue of Cervantes).

All in all, Alcala is a nice little city that's worth a visit, especially if you're a Cervantes or Quijote fan. Here are the rest of the photos that I took for those interested.

The Siberian Peninsula

Right now, the nickname for Spain is the Siberian Peninsula, a pun on the name "Iberian Peninsula" that Spain and Portugal share, and the cold front that has arrived in Europe from Siberia recently. Pretty much all of northern Spain* is frigid; roads are covered in ice, it's really windy, and I guess there's lots of snow. (I thought this was pretty typical of wintertime in northern Spain, but whatever.) The "ola de frío," or cold wave (is that even a phrase in English? like heat wave, but freezing cold instead for a long period of time?) was actually officially last week, but Madrid has been so cold even into this week that people are choosing to stay inside when they don't need to go anywhere. The past couple of days my preschoolers didn't even go outside for recess, which is wonderful for me when they're all crazy with pent-up energy by the time the afternoon comes.

Anyway, the best part about this, at least on a personal level for me, is that I have been particularly bitter about this cold (my apartment isn't particularly well insulated) and it's nowhere even near what we consider "freezing" in New England. The highs temperatures have been barely hitting the lower 40s. The low temperatures - very early in the morning, including when I leave for work - have been in the low 20s. Add in the windchill and you've got probably somewhere in the mid-teens. I'm starting to panic about ever going back home to Boston for good. I mean, if I can't deal with some 20-ish degree weather with a little wind on occasion, how will I ever survive another entire New England winter??



*Just an fyi, Madrid, at least in this case, is not considered "northern" Spain. The temperatures here aren't nearly as cold as the regions north of Madrid, nor have we gotten any snow.

El Gordo

If you've ever wondered what the Christmas season is like in Madrid (or anywhere in Spain, for that matter), one way to sum it up rather well is this single word: lotería. The Spanish are obsessed with this lottery, and I don't mean by this that they get really excited about it and buy lots of tickets or something. No, pretty much every family, group of work colleagues, group of friends, or whatever other social group you can think of (entire villages, even!) get together and purchase tickets as a group, with the intention of course to split the winnings should their ticket win. For example, at my school, the teachers all pooled together to buy tickets.

Now, I know I probably sound like I'm being overly dramatic about this, but I cannot tell you how many times I passed by little lottery vendors in Madrid during the month of December with lines that literally went for blocks and blocks. I think perhaps it just blows my mind a little because for one thing, I'm not much of a gambler. In fact, I don't think I've ever even bought a lottery ticket of my own in the US. But the bigger reason I can't really grasp the idea of the lottery obsession is perhaps also one of the causes of the obsession: the economy here is currently, well, not good. Why waste money on stupid lottery tickets?!  

Now, the lottery here is different from what we Americans are familiar with - there are several different "prizes," or different cash sums that are distributed among people with winning tickets. According to my favorite source, Wiki, around 98% of Spaniards buy Christmas lottery tickets (which began in 1812), and said tickets are available for purchase starting as early as August. Ironically, apparently this past Christmas's lottery was the biggest in history (the equivalent of $950 million). Anyway, this past Christmas's first prize winners came from a small village up north in Aragón called Sodeto. The main reason for this post, actually, is because I was reading about El Gordo ("the fat one"), as the lottery's first prize is called, in this article in the NY Times. Just another bit of Spanish culture about which I'm slowly learning.

#51 Spend a day in El Escorial

Well number fifty-one on my list is one thing that I actually (and very shamefully) had never done before. Despite the fact that I've lived in Madrid for nearly a year and a half now (and that's not including the semester I spent here as an undergraduate), I had never before visited this town only an hour northwest of Madrid. San Lorenzo de El Escorial is famous for the monastery there, which also used to serve as a palace for the royal family of Spain. The monastery was built in the 16th century by the king Felipe II up in the Sierra de Guadarrama (a mountain range) just outside of Madrid. Supposedly (well...ok, according to Wiki), the original floorplans of the monastery were inspired by descriptions of the design of Solomon's temple. According to Wiki, "the most persuasive theory for the origin of the floor plan is that it is based on descriptions of the Temple of Solomon by the Judeo-Roman historian, Flavius Josephus: a portico followed by a courtyard open to the sky, followed by a second portico and a second courtyard, all flanked by arcades and enclosed passageways, leading to the "holy of holies". Statues of David and Solomon on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial lend further weight to the theory that this is the true origin of the design." I like architecture a lot, so I think this is a pretty interesting theory.

Main entrance at the Courtyard of the Kings, with the basilica behind it.

Anyway, aside from being a monastery and a royal palace (at one point in time), the building also has a library, a basilica, a pantheon where twenty-six kings and queens from the Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties are buried (or rather, stored in fancy coffins that are stacked on the walls), and now, of course, a museum for visitors, among other things. There is also a room called the Sala de las Batallas, which is basically huge corridors with frescos and paintings on the walls depicting various important Spanish battles, including, but not limited to, battles against the Moors in the middle ages and then later on against the French. Unfortunately I missed this room, but it's okay because it gives me an excuse to go back.

The pantheon (picture from Google; you can't take pictures inside).

Sala de Batalles (Hall of Battles) (picture from Google).

Aside from the building itself, the monastery is also surrounded by several gardens. We didn't spend a lot of time in the gardens because we didn't have a lot of time and also it was freezing and really windy when we were there, but they're nice gardens (though not as extensive or beautiful as those at the royal palace in Aranjuez).

Me, Nicole, and Kristin in the gardens of the monastery.

Me, Nicole, and Amelie (pictures courtesy of Amelie).

Anyway, after Nicole, Amelie, and I visited the monastery/palace, we met up with our friend, Kristin, who is living in El Escorial and doing the same teaching program as us in a school out there. She took us to one of her favorite restaurants there for lunch, and then afterwards we walked around the town (which is really pretty; I didn't have very high expectations but I was impressed by how nice it is) and the gardens of the monastery. Kristin also invited us to her apartment for a little while, which was fun. Her place is really nice and she has a terrace that has a great view of the monastery.

So, the wait to visit El Escorial was well worth it. I would definitely recommend taking the day trip up there to any visitors to Madrid. A good way to start off my list of 101 things to do in and around Madrid! Oh, and here are the pictures (mostly just of the monastery) that I took.

101 things to do in Madrid

Last year, a friend of mine from NYU found a list that someone had created and posted online of 101 things that every person living in Madrid should see and do in their lifetime. She made it her New Year's resolution to do everything on the list before she returned to the States last summer. (I think she accomplished most of the list.) Anyway, I thought it would be a good thing to do myself since some of the things on the list I've been meaning to do but just haven't gotten around to it yet. Some of the things are a little weird or just very impractical (for example, start a snowball fight with a stranger, which is both odd and unlikely to happen, seeing as it barely every snows in the city center of Madrid, let alone enough to make multiple snowballs out of it), and some are just plain dumb (go skiing in the indoor Xanadú Snowzone? no thanks), so I'll probably get rid of those and do something else instead. There are actually a lot of items on the list that I have done or seen, but I think I should take advantage of my time here, as I don't know when I'll be back after my year teaching here is up in June, so this is a good opportunity to see them again. At the risk of being a total copycat, I'll try to post about each of the things as I cross them off the list. So, here goes:

1.         See the gardens at the Puerta de Atocha train station

2.         Visit the 11-M (March 11^th train bombings) memorial

3.         See the Fallen Angel statue

4.         See the Crystal Palace

5.         Go biking in Retiro

6.         Go boating in the pond in Retiro

7.         Have your photo taken in front of the bear statue in Sol

8.         Go for a walk in the Cecilio Rodríguez gardens

9.         See the Cibeles fountain

10.       Go up to the terrace in the Ciculo de Bellas Artes building

11.       Go for a walk down Gran Vía

12.       See a musical in one of the theaters on Gran Vía

13.       Go shopping on Calle Preciados

14.       See the Puerta de Alcalá

15.       Enjoy a pastry from Mallorquina

16.       Eat twelve grapes on New Year’s Eve in the Puerta del Sol

17.       Eat a calamari bocadillo (sandwich) in the Plaza Mayor

18.       See the Eloy Gonzalo statue in the Plaza del Cascorro

19.       Walk through the Rastro one Sunday morning

20.       Eat patatas bravas in the mythical “Las Bravas”

21.       See Don Quijote and Sancho Panza in Plaza de España

22.       See the sunset from the Templo de Debod

23.       See Picasso’s “Guernica” in the Reina Sofía

24.       Enjoy some of the greatest works of art in the Prado

25.       See the bonsai collection in the Botanical Gardens

26.       Go for tapas in the Mercado de San Miguel

27.       Visit the Royal Palace in the Plaza de Oriente

28.       Go for a walk in the Sabatini gardens

29.       Eat in the mythical underground Chinese restaurant (“Chino”)

30.       Step on Kilometer 0

31.       Visit the Sorolla Museum

32.       Admire the Plaza de la Villa

33.       Visit Valle de los Caídos (this one probably won’t happen because it’s been closed since
            November of 2009 with no reopening in the foreseeable future.)

34.       Touch the grass in the Santiago Bernabeu football (soccer) stadium

35.       Enjoy good jazz in Café Central

36.       Surround yourself with famous people in the Museum of Wax

37.       See all of Madrid from the Tetas de Vallecas park

38.       Walk through the palace gardens in Aranjuez

39.       Visit the Descalzas Reales monastery

40.       See the four towers from Charmatín station

41.       Eat Indian food in the Lavapiés neighborhood

42.       Start a day with churros from the Chocolatería San Ginés

43.       Start a snowball fight with a stranger

44.       See the dome of the Metrópolis building

45.       Enjoy the Madrid skyline from the cable cars

46.       Discover the hidden jewels of the Thyssen museum

47.       Visit the Museum of America

48.       Ride on the Strawberry Train at the Railroad Museum

49.       Find original gifts in the Fuencarral market

50.       Go for a walk through the Tierno Galván park

51.       Spend a day in el Escorial

52.       See the Royal Palace from the Campo del Moro

53.       Admir the walls of the Casa de la Panadería

54.       Visit the Almudena cathedral

55.       Visit Las Ventas bullfighting ring

56.       Go out for drinks in Chueca and Malasaña

57.       See the Puerta de Toledo

58.       See Gran Vía at night

59.       Read on a bench in the Plaza de Colón

60.       Take a picture of the Kio Towers

61.       Admir the vertical garden on the Caixa Forum

62.       Visit the Capilla (Chapel) del Obispo in the Plaza de la Paja

63.       Have beers on a terrace in la Latina

64.       Try grilled chicken at Casa Mingo

65.       Ride the “Abismo” (Abyss) at the Warner Amusement Park

66.       Roar at the lions in front of the Congreso de los Diputados (Congress of Deputies)

67.       See Goya’s frescoes in the San Antonio de la Florida Chapel

68.       See the Plaza de Neptuno

69.       Admire the shop windows on Calle Serrano (and if you can, buy something)

70.       Pose for a picture with Gran Vía in the background

71.       Visit the snowy Sierra (mountains) de Madrid

72.       See Madrid from the Cerro de los Ángeles (Hill of the Angels) (666 meters in altitude)

73.       See a movie in one of the few remaining movie theaters on Gran Vía

74.       Discover the history of the Metro at Andén Cero (Platform Zero)

75.       See the Plaza de Oriente from the balcony of the Opera

76.       Spend a day with your childhood heroes in Parque Warner (Warner Brothers themepark)

77.       Visit the house in which Cervantes was born in Alcalá de Henares

78.       Ride the Anillo Verde Ciclista (Green Cyclist Ring)

79.       See the starry sky in the Tierno Galván Planetarium

80.       Visit the San Francisco el Grande basilica

81.       On a clear day, go up in the Faro de Moncloa

82.       See the baby pandas at the zoo

83.       Hunt zombies on Line 6 of the metro at 8 in the morning

84.       Go for a walk in Casa del Campo

85.       Search for an apartment of more than 30 square meters

86.       Get yourself lost in Madrid

87.       Run a marathon

88.       Eat a good plate of cocido madrileño

89.       See the puppet shows in Retiro

90.       Collaborate with an NGO in front of FNAC

91.       Meet up with old friends for a cup of coffee

92.       Have an urban picnic (botellón?) in Plaza de España

93.       See the Plaza Dos de Mayo. Location of the uprising against French troops during French
            occupation of the city.

94.       Build a snowman in Retiro

95.       Go to a concert at the Palacio de Deportes

96.       Visit the Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (Royal Mint)

97.       Go skiing in the Xanadú Snowzone, whenever you want.

98.       Search for the best mojito in Madrid.

99.       Enjoy the abundant street art

100.     Take part in a Noche en Blanco (White Night)

101.     Do it all again. This time, with a friend.

Christmas Time's a-Comin'

The last month or so in Madrid was a little bit of a blur. In November we were going to have a Thanksgiving dinner, but then I caught what must have been the Spanish plague (or I guess maybe the flu) and we had to reschedule. So our Thanksgiving dinner became a Christmas dinner, since we didn't have it until last weekend. It was a lot of fun (although hectic), and it was great to see NYU people from last year who I haven't seen since last June.

The NYU girls.

Group shot.

School was especially hectic the past couple of weeks, between field trips, Christmas concerts, the kids having to finish their textbooks before the end of the trimester (that's right, even kindergarteners in Spain apparently have to finish up their book of fichas, which I'm not really sure how to translate but it's basically just a bunch of worksheets that they have to apparently complete by the end of each trimester).

Santa with all of his reindeer.

The primary school students had to learn a crazy country Christmas song called "Christmas Time's a-Coming" for a Christmas concert, and they actually did a really good job (some of them even played instruments, instead of playing the music from a cd). With my preschoolers, I decided to teach them "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," and all of my students colored a reindeer, which we then hung on the wall with Santa in his sleigh.

For some reason, this year's Christmas season didn't really feel like Christmas to me; I'm not sure if it was because we didn't have any Thanksgiving dinner or because for the first time in many, many years I didn't have papers to be writing and finals to be studying for. But Christmastime in Madrid is always cool; there are lights and trees and decorations (and people selling decorations) all over the city. The lights this year were the same as the ones they used last year, but they moved them to different parts of the city, so some I didn't get a chance to see last year and were new to me. This photo album has all of my pictures of the lights and other Christmas stuff in Madrid.

Feliz Navidad!

Portugal

As I said, last weekend we had Thursday and Friday off, so I went with some friends to Lisbon for three days. We stayed in Lisbon for two days and took a day trip to a town called Sintra on the other day. I really loved both cities, although the weather in Lisbon was pretty crummy most of the trip (the sky finally cleared up in the afternoon on our last day). Nevertheless, there were a lot of things

Elevador da Gloria, near our hostel

about Lisbon that I loved, some things that are similar to the cities I've been to in northern Portugal, and some things that are different. I love Portuguese architecture (though I couldn't tell you anything about it) and all of the red-brown colored roofs of the buildings, and I especially love the sidewalks made of stone that form mosaics in many streets and squares. I love the old-fashioned trams that still run in the city, and there are also still a few funiculars, which are basically trams the go a short distance up really steep hills (Lisbon is very hilly). One of these funiculars was actually on the street right next to our hostel, but we never rode it, mostly because we

Pastel de nata

had no need to, but also because it costs like two euros! I'll walk up the hill for free, thank you. Anyway, lastly, there is also still one "elevador" or elevator/lift that serves a similar purpose: it is an outdoor elevator that brings you from the lower part of the city straight up to the top of a hill to a higher neighborhood. Apparently there used to be two elevators like this, but only the Elevador de Santa Justa is still in use today (mainly for tourism, as the other trams are also). Another thing that I love about Portugal is the pastries...there are so many different kinds (unlike Spain) and they're all amazing looking and tasting. A few things I didn't like so much about Lisbon is the weather. The first two day we were there it was very foggy and cloudy. On the last day it rained in the morning and then finally the sun came out in the late afternoon. It could have been worse, but I know I would have liked the city a lot more had we had good weather the whole time. Next, I didn't like how there were Spaniards everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love the Spanish (for the most part), but the whole point of our trip to Portugal was to get away from Spain, Spanish, and Spaniards. I'm pretty sure we heard more Spanish than Portuguese this trip. Another downside to Lisbon is that you can really see the poor state of the economy; in much of central Lisbon there are many, many abandoned buildings, residential and commercial, and the place isn't quite as packed with stores and restaurants as one might expect. (Spain, on the other hand, certainly shows signs of economic problems, but pretty much the entirety of the population thinks nothing of going out for dinner or drinks or shopping all of the time still.)

Sintra, the town we took a day trip to on our second day in Portugal, was amazing. The town is very touristy, but it's just so beautiful and fairy-tale like that you don't mind all the tourists around you. The town is mainly famous for all of its palaces, the Pena Palace above all. There is also the remains of a Moorish castle that is

Pena Palace in Sintra

pretty famous as well. We only had time to visit the Pena Palace (and the surrounding Pena Park) and the Castle of the Moors. Since both are on top of a mountain (which is terrifying to go up in a bus), there are some great views of the center of Sintra and the surrounding Portuguese country side. I loved Sintra, but I realize now that you could easily spend two days there in order to see everything you want to see, so hopefully I'll have a chance to go back in the future. (Actually, I'd like to go back to Lisbon also, because there were some things there we didn't get a chance to see from the inside, such as the Belem Tower and the Jeronimos Monastery, because of weather and time).

All in all, it was a fun trip, but I wish we'd had more time in both Lisbon and Sintra. At least the next time I'll go, I'll know exactly what to do and where to go!

Avila

Pretty view of Avila from at the top of the medieval wall.

View of the cathedral from on top of the wall.

 Last week was one of the many crazy Spanish holiday weeks. We went to school on Monday and Wednesday, and had Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday off. On Thursday I went to Lisbon for the weekend with a couple of friends, and Tuesday we also had off, so I went to a city that I've been meaning to visit for a while now called Avila. It's famous mainly for the medieval wall that surrounds it (built between the 11th and 14th centuries); it's one of the most complete, still standing medieval walls surrounding a city. (They're also really cool because you can climb up them and walk around them almost the entire way around the city, which gives you not only a nice view of the city but also of the surrounding countryside.) The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's also a nice cathedral, but I didn't go inside because it cost something stupid like 7 euros, and it was pretty enough from the outside. I'm not really one to say, "if you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all"; I think all cathedrals are pretty unique even when they're the same architectural style. But I do draw the line at the Catholic Church charging me 7 euros just to go in and take a look around.

Hopefully I'll get around to posting about Portugal soon, but this week at school has been crazy and next week will be no different, between Christmas things and packing to go home on Thursday.

Spanish Elections

Spanish elections were a little while ago now (back on November 20th), but I keep getting sidetracked when meaning to update this blog. Anyway, when I was in Spain in the spring of 2008, Spain was voting for its next prime minister. José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), the incumbent, won. I don't think there's a maximum amount of terms a prime minister here in Spain can be in office, but regardless, the whole country has been really unhappy with Zapatero for a while now because of the economy, the lack of jobs, etc. So he wasn't even running again. Which perhaps is a shame; I don't want to delve much into politics here, but Zapatero did do some good things while he was in office, at least in my opinion; things that for a still very young democracy like Spain are quite surprising and even controversial, like legalizing gay marriage back in 2005, and a few years later, abortion. Anyway, this time around, Mariano Rajoy of the Partido Popular (Popular Party), who ran against Zapatero back in 2008, won. I don't know much about Spanish politics (or politics in general, for that matter), but the PP is the more conservative political party here, and I also don't really like Rajoy, so I'm not thrilled about that. But hey, we'll see how it goes. You can read more about it in this NY Times article.

Autumn in Spain: Extremadura

This has been one crazy fall. At the very beginning of this month we had a long weekend, so some friends and I took a trip to Extremadura, which is a region of southwest Spain boarding Portugal. It's famous for the Roman ruins in many of the cities. We went to three cities: Trujillo, Mérida, and Cáceres. Trujillo was my favorite, although I can't really pinpoint why. It's a nice little town, not too touristy, and the Plaza Mayor is really pretty. I also really enjoyed Mérida because it has the most Roman ruins, including a Roman theater and amphitheater, which are really cool. The last city, Cáceres, is also very pretty and the entire old town is actually a UNESCO world heritage site.

The three of us in the alcazaba in Merida.

Anyway, as of right now I'm liking my preschool (infantil, as they call it here) classes; most of the kids, especially my 5-year-olds, are quite smart and cute. I also have 3-year-olds, who are challenging because they don't really know a whole lot in Spanish, let alone English, and 4-year-olds, who are, of course, somewhere in the middle. I also have seven classes in primary (elementary school), with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. Some of good, but those kids are much more challenging because they know how to misbehave more than the little kids do. On the other hand, I like that most of them (the good classes) can actually have a conversation with you in English, so I can do more activities and games with them that I couldn't really do with 5-year-olds.

So that's autumn thus far in a nutshell. In a couple of weeks we'll be planning Thanksgiving and then at the beginning of December there is another long weekend, so I'm going to Lisbon, which should be fun!