DAY 1:
We arrived at about 1pm and checked into the hotel. This was suppose to be our walking around and seeing all the plazas day but it was pouring! At least the first part, we went to Palacio Real, the Royal Palace. It is the third-greatest palace in Europe with over 2,000 rooms. Of course there are only 24 open to the public. We were running a little late and didn't get an actual tour so we just wandered throughout the rooms and I didn't learn much about them. However, it was all very impressive! It says that you cannot take pictures, but I took a few slyly.
Palacio Real
After the Palace we headed over to la Catedral de la Almudena which is right next to the Palace. The altar of this Catedral was amazing! It is detailed in gold with many religious images!
The Altar
The plan was to walk around the all the Plazas and then have free time to walk around, but it was raining very hard. We walked through Plaza Mayor, which is the main plaza. It was built in 1619 and each side of the square is uniform. In the middle of the square is a statue of Philip III who ordered the square's construction. It is not as pretty when its gray and wet out. After that we all just went back to the hotel for the night.
La Plaza Mayor
DAY 2:
Saturday we took a day trip to the city of Segovia, about an hour and half north of Madrid through the mountains. During the bus ride I fell asleep and when I woke up we were in a winter wonderland with 5 inches of snow covering the mountains and pine trees. I was so confused and hoping we weren't going to be walking there! I fell back asleep and when I woke up again there were sunny valleys surrounding me. I was very confused and wondering if the winter wonderland was just a dream.
The winter wonderland we drove through.
Fortunately, Saturday was gorgeous in Segovia, much warmer and sunnier than Madrid. The main sights are the Roman Aqueduct, Alcazar, and the Cathedral. First, we saw the spectacular Roman Aqueduct which is over 2,000 years old. Nine miles long, 2,500 feet long and 100 feet high with 118 arches, it was built to channel water from Rio Frio to the city. The most spectacular part is that it is made out of 20,000 granite stones with no mortar or concrete. Every stone is perfectly balanced on top of one another!
Me in front of the Aqueduct
The tour of Segovia continued on to the Cathedral, built 1525 to 1768. We were unable to go inside because of time and it cost 3 euros, but the outside was gorgeous. Next, was the Alcazar, a fortified palace that was home to the monarchs of Castile. One of the rooms is where Christopher Columbus came to ask Ferdinand and Isabel for money to sail the ocean blue in 1492 (so cool!!). After being a palace, it was a prison for 200 years then a Royal Artillery School. It became a museum after a fire in 1862. Through the decorations and structure of the buildings you can see Arab influence. The ceilings are the best part of the whole castle! Also, there is a tower with a spiral staircase of 152 steps I climbed up after the tour. The view from the top was amazing!
Cathedral
Alcazar
Arab painting from the 12th century
On top of the tower
View from the top, City of Segovia
Lunch, like always, was amazing! Then we headed back to Madrid. As we were driving through the winter wonderland again, a sheet of ice flew off from one of the trees straight into the bus windshield and cracked it in two places! It was so scary! Of course when we got back to Madrid it was still cold and wet. Unfortunately, my boots that were originally my mom's so they're about 25 years old, split on the bottom of the sole. So my feet were so wet! It was just miserable so we just headed back to the hotel after some unsuccessful shopping.
DAY 3:
Our last day in Madrid we took a trip to the Prado Museum where we saw beautiful, classic Spanish works by Francisco de Goya and Diego Velazquez. My favorite had to be by Hieronymous Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights. It is a three paneled work that sends a message that "the pleasures of life are fleeting, so we'd better avoid them or we'll wind up in hell." All the works in there were spectacular. However, our tour guide took us through the place very quickly so we didn't get to see everything.
The Garden of Earthly Delights
After our tour, we had some free time so some of us walked over to Retiro Park, Parque del Buen Retiro. It was a beautiful park full of jugglers, puppeteers, and other local color. I would have loved to walk around the whole thing but we didn't have the time. We ate lunch back at the hotel and then got on the bus for our 5 hour trek back to Bilbao.
Retiro Park
These trees look like they belong in Alice in Wonderland!
El Estanque, the big lake in Retiro Park
I'm really glad that CIDE took us to see Madrid and Segovia. I definitely enjoyed Segovia more than Madrid. Madrid was nothing too special, just a big busy city. I did like, though, that there were only 4 skyscrapers so the city was not overwhelming or didn't feel claustrophobic. I am happy that I'm visiting it again when Mom comes, hopefully it will be better weather! However, I am glad that I studied in Bilbao because it still has aspects of a city but it is small enough where I'm never overwhelmed and it isn't too crowded. After visiting Madrid, I knew I didn't make a mistake of where I chose to study.
