The next day dawned as grey and damp as the previous one, so we only ventured out for the morning. It was, however, a very cool little excursion. We went back to the cathedral during mass and stayed for the entire service. Our original intent was to see the fabled enormous censer that they use in the cathedral during holy years (when Santiago’s birthday falls on a Sunday, like this year). We learned that its use has to be requested by pilgrims, so it’s not present at every service, including ours. However, we decided to stay and see what mass was like, which seemed especially appropriate in the city that’s the final destination of one of the most important pilgrimages in the world. It didn’t seem particularly spectacular to me, but it was really cool to see all the different types of people there, some of which had obviously just finished their camino. After mass, we walked back outside and were immediately serenaded by the echo of bagpipes. We turned a corner and found them, being played by a man in full traditional dress beneath the shelter of a small tunnel. We listened for a while, snapped a couple of pictures, and then headed to el Museo del Peregrino to see what it would tell us about the Camino. It detailed a bit about the history and expansion of the cathedral, and the story of how several of Santiago’s (St. James’s) followers sailed with his body to the northwestern region of Spain, but none of us gathered very well a reason for Santiago’s importance and why it would spark such a phenomenon as the camino. After the museo, we headed back toward the hostel for lunch and a relaxing afternoon (that’s when I wrote my last post).
The next day, Thursday, was my last one in Santiago, but I had all day to wander around the city more (in fact, I had to because I’d checked our of my hostel and didn’t have a place to just hang out). I spent hours just exploring the city streets, going in more circles than I intended, and getting a feel for Santiago. I stumbled upon a market, various churches, and some pretty parks and plazas. One of the larger parks had a few bookstand set up on one of its walkways, and I found a gem in one of them: a first edition copy of “El Amor en los Tiempos de Cólera”. Yes, in Spanish. It’s my project for the rest of the summer.
After a good day of wandering around, I headed back to the hostel to pick up my backpack and jumped on an overnight bus that would take me to San Sebastián, where a group of friends from my program were going to spend a free weekend. It rained almost the entire time, and we saw a couple rivers flooding their banks as we drove along. It was a bit of an alarming feeling to watch the water creep close to the road, but in the end we had no problems getting to San Sebas on time. I hopped off the bus at 6:40 am, after almost 13 hours, into what else but more precipitation. I took advantage of the hotel across the street from the bus stop, going in to use their restroom and get a town map. From there, I made my way, following the river, towards the sea, and met up with the friends I’d be sharing a hostel with. Luckily, we were able to get in and leave our backpacks there until we could officially check in to our room. To kill some time, we wandered around the neighborhood around our hostel, checking out the sights and hunting for some breakfast. Our albergue was located in an old part of town a couple blocks from the beach, a prime location, even if it was in the middle of the bar district. Turned out to be a fun place to be once the World Cup games started, because we could just go downstairs, out into the street, and take our pick of plenty of places packed with people.
As the day progressed, we checked into our hostel and then Bridget, Allison (the two girls I was staying with), and I went for a little hike up the monte (big hill) at one end of the bay. The road we took spiraled up to the top, so every corner we turned had a new interesting view. The higher up we climbed, the better the view of the bay below, with the city spreading away from it into the valley. It was a fun little adventure, and we worked up enough of an appetite to go for an early paella lunch with Hunter and Mattias (the other guys we were staying with). The food was delicious, and we felt much more energetic afterwards. We ventured our way to the beach, which was beautiful, and lounged for a couple hours. It was at this point that my friend Michelle arrived and met up with us (she’s working as an au-pair in a little pueblo outside of Vitoria, only a couple hours away from San Sebas by bus, and came to spend the weekend with us). It was really nice to see her again, and we hung out for a bit before heading to a bar to watch the first game of the World Cup between South Africa and Mexico. Although I was, of course, cheering for the Mexican team, I was glad to see South Africa come out strong, considering they were the host country and not expected to go far at all. The rest of the weekend continued in much the same fashion…hiking, beach time, and World Cup games. The US-England game was especially fun, since we found a bar full of English and Irish guys, and once we added our contingent from the States, it got really loud. The trend continued the following day, when the entire town of San Sebas seemed to be parading through the streets right outside our hostel in anticipation of the Real Sociedad game (it’s their local team that was playing to get into the highest league of national teams, and in the end, they won). Everywhere we looked we saw a sea of blue and white, and several mini marching bands playing simultaneously made for an exciting kind of chaos.
Before I knew it, I was back in Salamanca and in class. The first week passed pretty uneventfully, although it was really nice to be back in Salamanca. I was able to spend time with my friends again, explore more of the city, and go to dance classes, among other things. The next weekend was our class trip to Madrid, which was pretty fun and full of lots of activity. We arrived on Friday afternoon and the rest of the day to ourselves to wander around and do as we pleased. Nicole, Kathleen, and I explored the streets around our hotel and the Plaza Mayor, finding lots of cool shops and street performers. One of our favorites stores was called Tierra, full of beautiful handmade jewelry. We loved the experience almost more than the actual stuff in the store...when you walked in, they gave you a flower. And if you bought something, they gave you a little bag to put it in and some ice cream. We loved it because we felt oh so special. Best business plan ever. After finally tearing ourselves away from Tierra, we sat and watched a comedian do his routine and I almost died laughing. He had a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor and considered nothing to be off limits. Couple this with his facial expressions and it made for a really funny show.
Friday night, a group of us went to explore the gay district of the city, called Chueca. We checked out a few bars to get a feel for the ambience of the area, and my favorite by far was the one that handed out free tapas and candy. A good tactic to make you thirsty and get you to buy more drinks, but for us it was just a tasty treat.
Saturday morning we visited the Prado museum and saw a lot of really cool works of art. The museum is huge, and there’s no way we could have seen it all, so we went through with a guide to explain the most important pieces to us through the framework of the evolution of painting styles throughout Europe. Our tour lasted for a couple hours, and we were then free to wander the city again for the afternoon. I stayed in the Prado a bit longer to see some more of the artwork, and then wandered into a huge park with a few other kids from my group. We spent a bit of time there, and then hopped on a touristic bus (yes, a touristic bus) to see what we could see. It was a nice way to rest the feet, and we saw a lot more sights than we would have walking around. We got off at the Palacio Real to check out that building and the adjacent Catedral de la Almudena. We had to pay to go into the palace, so we only observed from outside its gates, but entrance to the cathedral was free, so we ventured inside. And good thing we did, because that building is beautiful. It’s got more modern architecture with cleaner, less adorned surfaces and really cool painted designs on the ceilings. The space was huge and echoed like a singer’s dream. It was one of the most beautiful cathedrals I’ve seen.
But even the beauty of the cathedral was topped by what I saw in the Basílica San Francisco el Grande, a short walk away from the Palacio Real. This round building looks pretty modest from the outside, compared to what it houses. The entire ceiling was covered with a beautiful fresco that looked like heaven. The moment we walked in, our heads were as far back as they could go, and we eventually laid down on the pews to get a better look at the splendor above us. We weren’t supposed to take photos, but I couldn’t resist, and snuck a couple quick shots. They turned out pretty well, considering I wasn’t looking through the viewfinder when I took them.
We wandered our way back to our hotel after visiting the Basílica, and rested up for a couple hours in anticipation of the big night ahead of us. It was my friend Sarah’s 19th birthday, and we’d planned as a group to go to a famous discoteca that evening. Although it took a little effort to coordinate the entire group en route to Kapital, the 7-story dance party was well worth the hassle. Each floor was home to a different type of music, so it was pretty hard to get bored there. If you didn’t like what you were hearing on the current level, you just had to go up or down and you’d be immersed in a whole new kind of aural delights. Oh what fun!
The next day was our return to Salamanca, but not before stopping at the Museo Reina Sofia to see some more art. This one housed more paintings, but of an abstract or cubist vien...think Picasso. After the museo, Eric, Collin, and I wandered into El Rastro, a neighborhood famous for its huge openair market every Sunday. We spent a while wandering through the endless stalls, and then headed back to our hotel to catch the bus that would bring us back homeward.
No comments:
Post a Comment