Madrid
After my parents recieving the most terrifying call of their lives at half past ten on the Thursday night, from Sarah asking for my Spanish number - something neither of us had thought about before, we luckily managed to walk past each other in the bus station (because the number my parents had was wrong... classic).
It took us a rather extended walk around Madrid before we found somewhere to eat lunch, afterwards we started on the grand Art Gallery tour of Madrid with the Reina Sofia
Favourite Spanish word. EVER.
The Reina Sofia has a painting called Guernica by Picasso which is one of the most famous pieces of art done under Franco. It's kinda big and yet - WE COULDN'T FIND IT! Literally spent about an hour trawling up and down the corridors of the Reina Sofia -which is pretty big - looking for it. Eventually we asked at the gift shop, they gave us a strange look but confirmed that it was still in the gallery.
Day Two in Madrid began bright and early and off we went to El Prado. The queue was ridiculous. Almost all the way along one side of the building. But as it was sunny, we couldn't really complain.
This was not the queue btw, this was the end of the queue.
We can see it now!
Sarah and our pal Velásquez
After the gallery legs had got a bit much we decided to grab a sandwich and head to the Madrid City Tour bus for an hour or so, where we got some amazing elevator music playing throughout the boring parts of the city, I was traumatised by a wasp for twenty minutes and Sarah moaned about the glass windows ruining her photos. 20 euros well spent!
That night we headed back to an area beside Mercado San Miguel, which has earned the title of Sarah's favourite market ever, to have some dinner. We ate at a restaurant called Kitchen Stories who's very inventive tagline was "Hemingway never ate here" I thought it was funny...
Sunday morning was spent at the Palacio Real. Where I want to live. Please.
It's just so pretty!!!!!
After the Palacio we went back to Plaza Mayor for some lunch, a quick spot of shopping and then it was back to the bus station for a sad goodbye :(
Salamanca, Avila and Segovia
We arrived in Salamanca's Plaza Mayor where we were greeted by hundreds and hundreds of other Erasmus students complete with signs and chants. To say that the inhabitants of Salamanca were unimpressed by us would be an understatement.
This time our City Tour was in the form of a competition with a different task to complete at each point of interest, unfortunately the tasks usually got a little more attention than the place so I still don't know that much about Salamanca. But I do know that Oviedo ESN schooled Huelva in a tug of war that was over so quickly it was almost embarrassing for them!
That evening we had our fiesta "elegante" complete with free sangria, mojitos and food. Definitely a high point. We were supposed to have a flamenco display but as I am of diminutive height I missed it... I heard it though, sounded good.
Sunday was spent travelling to Avila, a walled city which was absolutely FREEZING! But really pretty.
Segovia is one of the most gorgeous places I have ever been but unfortunately my camera's battery was "exhausted" so I have NO PHOTOS! So annoyed. Although I can confirm that they do a mean suckling pig in Segovia and have not only a cathedral that's bigger than Falkirk but a Palace, the same Palace that Disney based Snow White's on. Once again, I apologise for the lack of photos.
So this will be everything for a while, no plans for travelling until Semana Santa and Granada!
