¡Viva España!

I was set to arrive in Barcelona late in the evening and Fede, my Couchsurfing host, gave me instructions on how to get to the metro station that was closest to his, where he could meet me. It took me a bit of wandering about the station before I got to the correct exit but I finally got to where I needed to be before remembering that I don't really know that much Spanish. I played a few games on Duolingo to learn Spanish but that didn't get me very far and even though I've been living in LA for the past two years, stubborn me never decided to learn any other Spanish outside of "por favor" and "gracias" and maybe a few other words. I was hoping that I could use what I picked up in France to help me with this other romance language but what I realized upon talking to Fede is that I've actually been forgetting English words due to lack of use (for longer than a brief moment, I stared at his power strip and forgot what it was called). We'll see how much of other languages I retain while I continue on my travels and how poor my English is by the time I get back to English-speaking countries. 

So anyway, I got out of the metro station and mistook someone else for Fede and he asked if I needed help but to play it off, I just pretended like I wave hi to everyone and said I was alright. It wasn't long before Fede showed up but just in case it wasn't him, I was a little bit more hesitant before waving but I'm glad I got it right the second time around. By now, I was used to the double cheek kiss but I always wait for the other person to initiate it because sometimes, I'm still not sure who does it and who doesn't of the people I meet. Upon meeting Fede, we immediately clicked (which I'm glad has been the case for all of my hosts so far) and we talked all the way to his apartment and I learned that he was born in Uruguay and his family moved to the Spanish Canary Islands where he spent most of his life before he decided to get out in search of more and found himself in Barcelona. I was also really impressed with his English considering he learned it all from watching lots and lots of American movies with subtitles. 

Looking at Spanish signs while waiting for Fede

Since Fede hadn't eaten dinner either, he whipped up something really quickly for the both of us while I was handing him crackers with the various cheeses from the cheese sampler I had given him (it took us awhile to figure out which one was which). He made this really yummy creamy pasta with jamon and spinach which we paired with a Spanish wine that he had me try. After dinner, it wasn't too early and it wasn't too late and Fede had offered to show me around so I took him up on it and we headed to the center of  town (Placa De Catalunya). 

Cheese sampler

Italian meal in Spain

As we walked by these really cool fountain displays, I made mention that in all the places I have traveled to, what attracts me the most is water and lights so we aimed our path towards the beach. Along the way, there were people holding onto mini cans of beer and selling them individually for about one or two euros each. Drinking in public is illegal in Barcelona (maybe all of Spain) but the cops don't enforce it so we got some beer to sip on as we walked through some areas with some party people and other quieter areas. Fede had told me it was essentially Spain Day that day which is why many people were celebrating but he wasn't sure what the holiday celebrated exactly since he wasn't born in Spain. I'm not quite sure what prompted me to text my cousin earlier that day to ask if it was a school holiday but I found out that it was Columbus (Discoverer's) Day back home so I figured there had to be some sort of connection since Columbus was Spanish and with those bits of information, we pieced together that it must be celebrating Colon's (how Columbus is known in Spain-I don't know why his name changed for us) success in spreading the Spanish culture by "discovering" America. There is a giant monument erected with his statue on top that we passed by on our way to the water.

Place De Catalunya

Colon Monument

Columbus Monument up close

Right when we got around to the dock, we walked around it a bit to try to find a shop to sell us beer but it was past the time they could legally sell alcohol so we found a little restaurant that was willing to sell us a couple of bottles. With our beer, we headed over to the sand where we found a little place to sit and chat and drink. I went to go step into the water and it was quite chilly but it felt so refreshing. The night itself was very refreshing and calm. There were a few other groups of people scattered about the beach but it seemed like every group had its own agenda that they were all in their own little worlds. At one point, while I looked out onto the water, Fede pulled out a harmonica and started to play a little tune that he made up because he's been messing around with learning the instrument. I even gave it a go but gave it back to him pretty quickly.

Taken at Ramblas de Canaletes

The dock

Water and lights!

My new friend, Fede

Shadows in the sand

Beach!

When we had finished our beers, it was super late and Fede had work the next day so we made our way back. Since the metro had stopped running, we started searching for a night bus which we found but it had changed its route but there was no indication of it so we got off when Fede noticed the new route and before we had gone too far in the wrong direction. I wasn't sure where we were but luckily Fede knew but he still wanted to rent a bike to get us back just to see how that would work out for the two of us on one bike. There are bike racks everywhere and apparently a one-year membership to rent the bikes on these racks is less than €50 which I think is a great idea! 

Unfortunately, the bikes are not permitted to be rented between certain hours of the night and we were about five or fifteen minutes from the opening time but I convinced Fede that in that time, we could already be back to his place and I made a deal with him that if we did pass another bike rack in that time, we would rent one. It was actually surprising that we didn't pass another one on our way back because I had seen so many of them before but we finally made it back to his and we both caught a few hours of shuteye before I said bye to Fede and he went to work. 

He told me that I could stay and sleep a little more if I wanted so I took full advantage of that but didn't overstay my welcome for too long because the plan was to meet my college friends in Madrid in the afternoon. So after snoozing a little bit longer, I had a quick bite to eat, packed up again and headed towards the train station. Spain, it seems, is stricter about their ticketing policy for trains because they had a security gate much like those in airports and when I got there, the guard told me I needed to make a reservation, which I've avoided doing since France. So I begrudgingly headed over to the ticket counter to make a reservation and the attendant told me the next train I could get on for Madrid wasn't for another few hours so with no other options, I made the reservation and waited it out in the train station. 

After the long wait and a thankfully uneventful train ride, I made it to Madrid, where Kyle had given me very simple directions to get to his and Adrian's. It had been three years since I had seen them and after we graduated, they moved out to Madrid (Adrian is originally from Spain but not Madrid and Kyle, from Jamaica) so just another perfect excuse for me to visit another city and to reconnect with some old friends. Another college friend, Faylis, had flown out to meet up with us because when I was telling her about the somewhat loose plans of my trip, she had said that she wanted to visit Spain and Italy, having never been to Europe before, and I was more than happy to have a travel companion. Since my dates weren't set in stone, once she bought her tickets, I started to plan a little better for when I would get to Spain and it worked out perfectly. Fay had visited me in July of this year so I had seen her fairly recently, but it was good to catch up with her nonetheless.

I love seeing how fast I'm going even though it physically doesn't feel like it

Ah, the station

When I got to Kyle and Adrian's, Kyle was working from home and Fay was napping so I took it as my opportunity to settle in and catch up on my blog while intermittently catching up with Kyle. He had prepared a delicious lunch of chicken, baked garbanzo beans, and cheese along with this yummy bread made special from a part of Spain of which the name escapes me. Before long, Kyle had finished his work day and Fay had woken up from her nap and we were going to go into a part of town to wait for Adrian but we bumped into him while going into the metro so we waited for him to quickly use the bathroom back at theirs (their flat is conveniently located a few steps away from the Tirso de Molino metro station) before he suggested grabbing a bus so we could see more of the city so that's exactly what we did. 

Yum, lunch

The bus took us to the train station where I had gotten off (Atocha) and Adrian took us to look at the indoor rainforest while Kyle went to get some hair products really quickly down the street. When we reconvened, the two locals gave us a mini walking tour while making stops for drinks and food along the way. We were told that it's typical to get a tapas with your drink so it's really easy to bar hop around the city and eat along the way (how cool is that?!). Adrian actually knew quite a lot of history of the places we walked by, like he was able to point out where royalty used to live inside the Jardines de Plaza de España and he even gave us certain dates for events. The two of them knew the city really well because they would stop every so often to discuss which route would be better to take to show us certain things. I could already tell that they loved this city and I think their love of it made me love it that much more. 

Rainforest in the station

Fay, Kyle, me, and Adrian

In front of the Prado Museum

Passing by the gardens

Inside of City Hall

The outside is beautifully lit though

Nice fountain too

Trin alum on an adventure

Passing by the pretty governmental building

Throughout the night, we stopped at a total of five or six places to have drinks and little bites to eat. In every country I've visited, it's fun to learn about the pre-drinking ritual like some people will say "Cheers!" or "Santé!" or "Salud!" and for Spain, I learned "Arriba (up), abajo (down), a centro (in the centre), adentro (in [your mouth/body])" or simply "Ching ching." Drinking has such a culture behind it that I never really appreciated until I started these travels and it's been a really good piece of culture to learn from everywhere I go.

Tapas!

Meat shaving station

Los Gatos de Madrid

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Ching ching!

I only know how many places we went from the different selfies (groupies)

And here's another one

Menu at Maceiras

Vino

This is either calamares frites or pulpo Maceira

Last stop of the night 

Trin folk

Trying out different wines with a lot of olives

The city is very easy to navigate and Kyle gave us a few tips on hubs we could ask for if we did ever get lost and with that, we easily walked back to Tirso de Molino. Upon getting back, we turned their dining room into a salon as Fay helped to bleach Kyle's hair and Adrian and I sat in the living room going over places to check out the next day. Adrian plotted and saved a bunch of points on my mobile map for me and then verbally gave me a brief description of what I would find at each point and even gave me a suggested route . He was super helpful and it actually was quite amazing how well he knew the area. I hope to be able to do that with a city one day.

Passed this large governmental building on our way back

The next day, Fay and I had set out with a plan in mind and just let the rest happen as it did. Our rough plan was to get churros and thick hot chocolate at Chocolateria San Ginés, which in over a hundred years, has not closed and I believe it's open 24 hours, go to the grocery store to get some supplies for dinner, then head out to find a place for lunch and follow the route that Adrian had suggested. On our way to San Ginés, we were passing by one of our starred suggested locations, Plaza Mayor, so we walked around that square for a bit. It seemed pretty typical of a square, with performers and people selling things. Then, we passed by some cute little specialty shops as well as Mercado de San Miguel, one of the points on our map, so we decided to go check it out because I couldn't remember what Adrian had told me about it. As it turns out, it's this really cool marketplace similar to that of Reading Terminal Market in Philly but a lot less crowded. There were so many different little tapas for only a few euros each and drinks and cheese and chocolate and all the yummy goodness one's tummy could ask for. We knew that we were definitely going back there for lunch but first, churros and chocolate awaited us. 

Plaza Mayor

Trying our hand at deciphering Spanish

All the yummy things found at Mercado de San Miguel

Couldn't wait to get back!

With one order of churros, there are six on a plate so we got one order to share to see if that would satisfy us. We decided to sit outside since it was a very nice day out but we kept getting accosted by people asking for money. Fay knows more Spanish than I do so she kept saying that she didn't have any money to give them (that's how I learned that 'lo siento' means 'sorry'). They were pretty aggressive about getting money out of us and motioning that they wanted to eat so I offered them the churros but they didn't want it so there wasn't anything else I was willing to do for them. Outside of those disturbances, the churros and chocolate were heavenly and not too sweet at all.

Heaven in food form

In continuing with our plan, we passed by the grocery store closest to our home base and got a few items for dinner. Since I knew that I needed more greens in my life, I resolved to make a large salad for everyone that night. With our groceries in hand, we headed back and spent some time in the flat before going back to Mercado De San Miguel and getting lost in all of the different stands of tapas and other wonderful food. It was great because Fay and I were able to try all different things without getting too full from one thing and before we knew it, we were quite stuffed.

Grocery shopping - this pepper is huge!

I think it's funny that they call cream cheese "Philadelphia"

At Mercado de San Miguel

All the tapas!

Mozzarella tapas

Hi fish

Be careful Fay! 

Fried seafood in paper cones

Got some fried squid

Legs of meat

Amazing how they shave the meat straight off the leg

Delicious desserts

Oysters so fresh

"intense like fleshy"

Oyster slurping

Sangria

When we finally decided to leave, we walked up a street that got us to the Catedral Santa Maria and we passed through the Jardines de Sabatini. It was just nice to stroll through these open spaces and chat with Fay about everything that we've been getting into since our college graduation. As we continued to walk northward, we turned down the prominent street of Gran Vía as I attempted to find a friend since she moved out to Madrid earlier in the year to work as an au pair. As it goes, we didn't end up crossing paths and it was getting to the time that Kyle and Adrian were getting home from work so we headed back to theirs.

I can't remember what palace we passed by

Catedral Santa Maria

Without the geotag

Such a huge building

Couldn't see over the ledge to get a view of the city

Passing through the gardens

Walking around the Catedral

Climbing up to statues

Another symbol of Madrid

On the Gran Via

Kyle's plan was to have homemade pizza so while he prepared the dough, I started on prepping the salad so everyone was quite busy in the kitchen (Fay and Adrian were managing the cheese and wine situation). With five pizzas finely prepared to our liking and cooked close to perfection (the fifth was a communal pizza), we settled down to watch this crazy Spanish dating show where the couple meet on an island and they're completely naked the whole time and then to throw a stick in the wheel, halfway through the show, someone else shows up to create some drama. Since it was all in Spanish, I could only guess what was going on but it wasn't too difficult to decipher and Kyle and Adrian helped to translate the important parts. Very interesting dinner entertainment indeed.

Lots of evidence of our dinner prep

Selfie stick trials

There were a lot more taken but I will spare my readers :)

Ching ching

Got the wine and cheese situation down

Pizza toppings

Pizza dough ready!

Everythang pizza

Trying to keep greens in my life

Homemade pizza is the best pizza

Perfectly shaped communal pizza

Their kitty says hi!

The next day was an early one for me and Fay as our only practical option for getting into Barcelona for a day of exploring was at six in the morning. Since we were keeping our big bags in Madrid, we were able to carry a small backpack with us around so we joined a free walking tour immediately upon arrival. 

Headed to Barcelona!

Quick brekkie

Reuben, our tour guide from England, first took us into the Gothic quarter where he showed us the Royal castle and told us about Wilfred the Hairy (The Hairy Willy) and King Charles and King Martin and how he was the end of the Barcelona bloodline after dying from a six hour fit of laughter. With King Martin's death, I believe it was Columbus who greeted Ferdinand and Elizabeth as the new rulers. 

Gothic quarter

Where the kings resided

 As we were standing in the area where we could see the executioner's house, Reuben also told us about how the life of an executioner was quite lonely because he killed people for a living that no one wanted to socialize with him and he walked around wearing that cloth over his head that movies often depict. However, as the executioner, he was given the bodies after he executed them so he sold the limbs on the black market for a lot of money so even though it was a lonely life, he had a lot of monetary wealth. Then I think there was something about the shoes of the dead that are kept outside houses to ward off evil spirits but I can't quite remember.

Executioner's home

Round watching platform

Can't quite remember where this was...

As we walked over to the Barcelona Cathedral, we were told that Barcelona is the capital of the state of Catalunya and the Catalan flag is the oldest one in Europe. The story behind the flag of gold with four red stripes had something to do with King Charles, I believe, when he took four fingers and stuck them into the wound of a soldier and took that blood to streak the golden shield. Then we were told of Castillo and the forming of Spain and something about Aragon and the golden age of Cataluyna (yeah... I'm terrible at retaining this information...) We also learned about Gaudi, the artist, and throughout the tour, were shown some of his art that was freely on display as we passed it. 

Barcelona Cathedral

Side of the cathedral

King slaying a monster

At the top of the Cathedral is a statue of the patron saint Alulalia (? - I might have the name wrong) who was given thirteen tortures by the Romans I believe and she survived each of them. To represent these thirteen tortures, thirteen doves were placed inside of the cathedral to live but they kept flying out so they were replaced by geese, who apparently are just confused all the time.

It's always amazing to me how intricate the designs are

Walking around to the side

Walking out from behind the Cathedral, we came to the square where we could see a drawing that was done by Picasso, I believe, that shows the activities of the Catalan people during the La Mercè Festival that includes a dance called the Sardena and a human tower along with other activities like a fire run and baby jumping. In the fire run, people are literally chased around by people dressed like devils wielding large sparkler-type devices and baby jumping is exactly as it sounds where babies are unleashed everywhere in the square and people race by jumping over these babies. In making human towers, people will stand on top of each other's shoulders to see who can make the highest human tower and the record is ten levels. However, I think they needed to restrict this tradition because someone died from falling off the tower.

Picasso drawing - Human tower

Sardena drawing

Continuing on our way, we were able to see some Catalan architecture which doesn't depict any human figures on its facade by passing by the church for Santa Maria del Pi. Here, we were told that the bull is the national animal and the donkey is used to represent the Catalan people because the donkey is known to be hardworking and intelligent. Also, Reuben told us about the protests that are occurring right now to get Catalunya to be independent of Spain and so there is another flag that represent the pro-independent party.

Santa Maria del Pi cathedral

Narrow streets around the square

Pro-independent flags

Rally in front of this government building - The people want independence from Spain

Reuben

Sculpture to represent the human tower - this is how tall the tallest tower was

We then passed by a square that was made by Paris and London architects and we saw a Gaudi lamppost. Then we entered the Borne district with the church of Santa Maria del Mar. The people that were part of the guild each had to help build this church of the people by walking about five kilometers to get the stones for this church and they had to continuously do it for ten to fifteen hours a day until the church was built. We moved onto learning about the atrocities of Franco though I can't remember anything about that and where there is a memorial to how they gained their independence in the 11th century and learned that forty years ago, they were under a fascist dictatorship.

Passing through the square

Gaudi lamppost

Photo of a human tower

Santa Maria del Mar

To recognize the people who helped to build the church

Memorial

From there, we got to our final stop of where we learned about how the 1992 Olympics brought about a lot of financial support into the city and that's why the city is as beautiful as it is. And then it might have been the sleepiness that hit me because I zoned out a bit from there and before I knew it, we were thanking Reuben for the tour and getting on our way. We had made it to the Parc de la Ciutadella that led to Barcelona's Arc de Triomf and it was around this time that I had planned to meet up with Fede for lunch so Fay and I went on our way and after introductions, he took us to get some yummy crepes. It was my first time having a savory crepe so I asked Fede to pick for me and it had mushrooms and cheese and honey in it I think. Whatever it was, it was so good!

I think this domed building had something to do with the military

Parc plan

Arc de Triomf

Looking down from the Arc

Ordering crepes

Tea

Ginormous crepe

After lunch, Fede went back to work but we had planned on meeting back up later and Fay and I had purchased tickets for a tapas tour with the free walking tour group so with time before that, we decided to figure out our hostel situation. We finally found some open beds at the Alternative Creative Youth Hostel, the third place we went to, so we checked in, put our things away, and settled in for a siesta. I got up a bit earlier to get our tickets for our way back to Madrid and walked towards the water which had some nice views along the way although I'm not quite sure what it was I was looking at. I'll have to refer to my McDonald's map for that.

Such a clever sign at the hostel

Siesta time

Waiting to cross the street - But look! A statue!

Barcina art piece by the Barcelona Cathedral

Quickly went to look at the confused geese inside the cathedral

From inside the cathedral

Walking through the small little alleys

I thought that this was a cute walkway between buildings

El Cap de Barcelona (The Head) - To honor Gaudi

Buildings I passed by

More street sights

When Fay and I met up for the Tapas Tour, we were lead by Claudia and she had this really cute Spanish accent. She told us about the origin of tapas and how they're slightly different from pincos which come from the Bask country because one of them includes bread as a delivery mechanism. She told us that it had to do with the king who wanted something put on top of his glass of wine as a cover, I think, so a servant put a pinco on top and that's why now it's pretty common to have a drink and a tapa together. At the first place we went to, a tavern, there was a very interesting way for the bartender to pour the cider into the glass and he needed to have it tilted a certain amount and pulled the bottle away from the glass as he poured. He said that because the cider was very cold, it needs more surface area for the bubbles to dissipate (he didn't necessarily say that but I interpreted it as that). Here, we each had our pick of one of the many tapas that were set out and just had to pay an additional one euro for each one after.

Cute little narrow streets

The bartender telling us all the different tapas there were

Pouring in action

Apple cider

But first - lemme take a selfie

Getting ready to head to the next stop

The next place we went to was called Segons Mercat which directly translates to "According to the market" and we were told about croquettas which are fried rolls with potato and meat. Croquettas became popular because shops wanted to promote their products without wasting too much money with meat samples so they thought it best to combine the meat with potatos which would make the size more substantial. In addition to the croquettas, we also had bread with tomato, potatas bravas, and chorizo to go with our wine. Even though this restaurant is known for their seafood, we didn't get to sample any of that but I guess our tour fee didn't cover the market price for the seafood.

Passing past the pier

Bread with tomatoes

Decided to switch to red - good for the heart

Double fisting

Croquetta

Potatas bravas

Chorizo

Getting to our last destination, we were taught how to drink out of Mr. Pirron, as Claudia called it, and had some seafood paella. The pirron is this glass drinking vessel that resembles the structure of a bong and it is used so that everyone can drink from it without spreading saliva and germs. It is held close to your mouth and pulled further away as you drink and it took us a few rounds to get it close to perfect. To end our night, we all had a final shot and someone had invited me to go watch a Flamenco show so our plan was to meet up with Fede and go. Along the tour, I had met two Australians, Ali and Hayley, two Polish(?) girls, Anna and Sanna, and an American, Megan, so I invited them along. Utilizing my people-herding skills, I directed us all to meet up with Fede and we all headed to Gracia Latina.

Claudia introducing us to Mr. Pirron filled with water

Demonstrating how to use Mr. Pirron

Photo finish

Giving it a go

Fay's got it

Paella

Hello Mr. Pirron

Take three

Perfection

Got everyone together

Cool statue on the way

Other random sightings

Unfortunately, by the time we made it, the Flamenco show was over so we decided to just hang out with some drinks for awhile. It was after a few drinks and it looked like activity was winding down was when we decided to take to the dance floor for some attempts at salsa and bachata. Even though I occasionally lost the beat, I think I held up pretty well and this older gentleman even helped us out. We stuck around until they finally kicked us out and we made our way back to the hostel. One by one, we dropped off people in the direction they needed to go and when Fay and I got back to our hostel, the front door was locked and we weren't sure which button called the front desk so we proceeded to try all of them. Granted, it was about three or four in the morning, but we just needed someone to buzz us in so we figured someone would hear their bell. Fay was pushing all of the buttons while I attempted to try out my lock-picking skills. At one point, we did get a response of "No. Go sleep" and we weren't able to get a reply in before the lady hung up. Finally, someone walked downstairs and it was the hostel receptionist. He told us that we had rung them but because we were pushing a bunch of other buttons, we kept canceling the request and he wasn't able to buzz us in. I'm just glad I didn't have to sleep on the streets when I had paid for a perfectly good bed on which to rest my head.

Our crew for the night

The next morning, with only a few good hours before our train back to Madrid, we received a recommendation to go to La Boqueria for food so that's exactly where we headed. At first, we thought it was a restaurant and were kind of disappointed but luckily we asked to double check and the restaurant of the same name directed us to La Boqueria market directly across the way. It was food heaven! Juices and tapas and spices and meats and so many other things that my sleepy brain was overloaded with all the possibilities. Fay and I grubbed for a good little while in that market until it was about time for us to make some moves towards the train station.

Cool wall structure

Found La Boqueria!

So many things to feast my eyes on 

So many different kinds of mushrooms

Spices

Love the packaging

It's time to nom!

Sleepy but happy

Croquettas

 

The ride back to home base was fairly uneventful and when we got back, we saw these two strange large baby head statues. I have no idea the significance of them nor was there a plaque indicating why they were there which made it all the more odd. On our way away from the baby heads, we went back to the beauty store where Kyle had gotten his hair bleaching products from because I had asked Fay to bleach a strip of my hair with the remaining product from Kyle's bleaching session and I quite liked it so wanted to just try bleaching my whole head.

Baby head statue

Other baby head statue

Since I'm Spanish illiterate, I'm glad Kyle knew exactly what he uses and where to find them because he was able to direct me through that store like he was physically there. There was a bit of confusion when I said something in Spanish to one of the employees but I figured it out myself when she walked away in resignation. With my purchases which were quite cheap in comparison to American products, we headed back to start our Friday night festivities. 

Hairdresser Fay

Kyle and Adrian were going to take us out that night but add a bit of our Trinity drinking traditions into the mix because we started the night quite late with playing King's Cup with wine ("we're adults now"). Now that Mon was blonde and Kyle was even blonder, we were ready to start the night with Kyle and Adrian's friend, Matt. I'm not exactly sure where we went but we started off getting drinks at different places and ended the night at a club for some dancing. It was really cool to see the nightlife out in Madrid. I felt like everywhere we went, Kyle saw someone that he knew in the street. It seemed like one big party that was only separated by the walls of the different bars that spilled out into the streets. From what I can remember, it was a great atmosphere and everyone was in for a good time. Starting the night with wine made it a very blurry night but I do remember ending it with burritos so it had to be an awesome night, right?

Different angles from the selfie stick

Let's try this angle

Oh yeah - Matt's on the left

Kyle decides to take matters into his own hands

Turning it over to Kyle

Trying some new lighting

Kind of works!

Hey Matt

Add a nice background in too - Perfect!

Blonde Mon

Where we started off the night 

Interesting bathroom door

Where we ended the night

The next day, Fay and I had an afternoon flight to Rome planned so we had a lazy Saturday with our friends. Kyle had told us that he would show us how to make the Spanish tortilla with is like a ginormous omelette with layers of sliced potatoes so we spent the morning preparing for that. I also wanted to make some sort of dessert so with the time we had, I decided to go with a classic - chocolate chip cookies. When I went to one of the local stores for chocolate, I'm not sure what they said to me but I when I walked in, they gestured that I wasn't allowed in so to avoid anymore charades, I went to another store. When I got back, there was a performance right outside of the flat and apparently it's something that happens pretty regularly in the different sections of the city and it just happened that this time around, these performances were occurring in Tirso de Molino.

So the rest of the morning was spent in the kitchen and packing and getting ready to head off to Rome. It kind of felt familiar at this point and I was sad to leave but Fay and I had another adventure awaiting us. The Spanish tortilla cooking lesson went very well and it was a delicious departure meal. Before long, the cab had showed up and we were off to the airport. 

Slicing potatoes

Hey Fay!

Kyle's deep in his craft

Frying potatoes

Cookies made by yours truly

Spanish tortilla

So pretty!

I really enjoyed exploring Spain but I think it was the people who made it special for me. Like many of the places I've been to so far, it has been great to reconnect with friends and to make new ones. There are so many more places to visit in that country, I know, so even if I haven't learned Spanish by the time I'm ready to go back, I'm still looking forward to my return. Hasta la vista, España!

Last Spain selfie! For now...

Ready for our next adventure!