So I've been home from my weekend trip for three days now and I finally feel like writing about it. I've really just been lazy. I finally got Project Free TV to work on my computer, so I haven't been doing much besides watching the 3rd season of Pretty Little Liars... But anyway!
Our group left for Segovia Friday morning and took the four hour bus ride to the city. They picked Segovia because it was a good stopping point with many cites between Bilbao and Madrid. Segovia was highly influenced by the Romans when the city was being built. The highlight of the city is the aqueduct system running through the city. It is built entirely of stone and reaches who knows how far. I couldn't see the end. The stones were placed without using any type of mud or mortar. This means that the constructors had to place the stones in the perfect position to prevent leaks. Since they are all different shapes and sizes that had to have been pretty hard especially without the technology we have today. Even the architecture of the aqueduct was incredible.
After lunch we went on to a castle on the outskirts of town which is where I believe was the home of the king and queen of Castillo or something like that. I wish I had more background history on Spain so I could understand more when guides are speaking Spanish to us, but I think I pick up on enough. The castle seemed like it also served as a fort and was surrounded by moats. At the end of the tour, we were able to climb to the roof and look out at all of Segovia. From there, we left for our hotel in Madrid.
We stayed in a hotel that was probably a little bit too nice to let a large group of college kids stay. There was a bidet in the bathroom and also a phone. Definitely too fancy. It was also where the Canary Island professional soccer team was staying. The hotel restaurant served an all you can eat buffet for every meal which was included in our trip. We all took all you can eat very seriously! I'm just starting to get my apatite back.
The next day we started out with a bus tour of the main part of the city. Madrid is enormous. The lady giving the tour was actually very annoying so I didn't feel bad about falling asleep halfway through. We got off the bus at Puerta del Sol which is a plaza that is very popular for travelers. I will never understand why because there was nothing to see. There was a small protest being held there and tons of people running around in knock-off character costumes. I was beyond thrilled to see Mickey and Minnie. Of course I was going to get my picture taken with them and get away from the annoying tour guide for a bit. My friends and I took lots of pictures with Mickey and we said "gracias" and "adios" when we were done. But then Mickey took his head off and held out his hand and started demanding money. We were all shocked and didn't understand what was going on so we pretended to not understand and ran back to our group. The tour guide then decided to inform us that the people in the costumes were actually just street beggers and it was customary to pay them for taking pictures with you. We avoided people in costumes the rest of the day, which was difficult since there were probably 20 or 30 people doing the same thing.
We continued our walking tour and we saw the first restaurant in the world. I'm sure there were probably other restaurant before this one, but I'm guessing it was the first licensed restaurant. From there we walked past some other sites which had no significance to me. And then we got to the cathedral and the royal palace!! The palace was absolutely incredible. I was beyond pumped to be able to go on a tour of the inside... until I found out that they strictly prohibit pictures. How was I supposed to make it through the entire palace without taking one picture? It seemed like the security team was challenging me to see how many pictures I could take. I challenge I willingly accepted. I believe I won, because I came away with about 24 pictures. They are all horrible, but I'm proud of every single one of them. Others weren't so lucky and were forced to delete theirs when they got caught. They just don't have my moves.
The rest of our day consisted of free time. By the time my group of friends had the subway system figured out, we had used up pretty much two hours. Our goal was to get to the Reina Sofia Museum, which houses modern art pieces, so we could see the painting of Gernika which we had been studying in our classes. We didn't get the subway figured out to take us directly to the museum, so we got off at Puerta del Sol and found our way walking. It took forever and we were all exhausted. But we did end up making it and we got free admission since it was Saturday. We saw the Gernika and a few other rooms of paintings before we got tired and left so that we could make it back to the hotel in time for dinner.
That night, most of the kids in my program went out to Capital, which is a 7 story nightclub. As lovely as that sounded, I was not feeling paying $15 dollars to stay out until 6 am just to get up again at 8:30. I got plenty of sleep :)
The next morning we visited the Prado Museum. There were a few famous works featured there that I had never heard of, but this museum was my favorite part of the trip by far. All of the art was from the Middle Ages and was done for the houses of kings and queens, or done by famous artists. Everything was so real, and if I wasn't so exhausted, I could have walked through the museum all day. Luckily, I didn't have to. After grabbing lunch at the hotel, we headed back to Bilbao.
After the weekend, I realized just how much I love Bilbao. It's so peaceful, quiet, and safe. I never feel like I'm going to be mugged and even though I am careful with my purse, it's never my main concern. I also missed the comfort of my host family's house. Despite all of this, I am beyond ready for my trip to London and Prague next weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment