Mon Voyage à Versailles: Saying Hola to Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona....

Seville, Spain

.... or as I like to call it, The Amazing Week of Sangria, or more accurately, The Great Search for Javier Bardem.

This past week was an incredible refresher from life in Paris: the sun was shining, palm trees were everywhere, the locals were friendly, and food was cheap! It could not have been a better first encounter with Spanish culture. We started out in Madrid and found it to be much more pleasant than we expected. Our other friends had told us not to go there, or said that it wasn't very interesting -- but we realized that these thoughts stemmed from Madrid simply not looking as "Spanish" as other Spanish cities. We arrived at Madrid's ultramodern airport on Saturday morning and quickly headed over towards our tiny "Las Musas" hostel. We started off the day with an amazing tapas meal at a recommended restaurant, eating good paella and drinking sangria. I was a tiny bit surprised to find that there was no Central American influence on Spanish cuisine whatsoever... and it was actually true that lunch didn't get going until well after 2pm. Strange. We walked around town for a little bit (central Madrid actually isn't very big) and came home for a lovely siesta.

That night we found another great tapas restaurant around 10pm, and dinner was only just starting. We had to wait outside for a little while, but the host gave us a pitcher of sangria (as usual) to drink outside, and we ended up running into another group of kids from our program. The tapas were delicious, and afterwards, we hung out at a dance bar for a while before going to bed.

Plaza Mayor

The next day we took a walking tour which began at the Plaza Mayor. We learned about Madrid's history as the seat of the Spanish throne as well as its history with the Hapsburg Empire -- which explained why so many of its buildings looked like those in Vienna. Our tour guide learned that we were architecture students (I think the frantic sketching gave us away) and told us about a really interesting cathedral an hour outside of town. After hearing his description, we decided to be spontaneous and go visit it. It was called the "Cathedral of Faith", built by a crazy old man in Mejorada del Campo... and it was the craziest church I've ever seen! (Well... until 5 days afterwards. But more on that later.) It was completely built by this man and his nephews, with recycled and stolen materials, totally unsafe and totally illegal. It was open to the public, but a big sign at the entry said "I am not responsible for anything that happens here." We went ahead and explored nevertheless, admiring the hand-made bricks, stained glass windows, railings, and mosaics. It was really scary to climb the tower stairs, and some of the floors seemed to be made of concrete only an inch thick, but it was great to see this guy's imagination at work. It was quite the architectural adventure. (New philosophy: if someone tells you your building shouldn't be built, prove them wrong and do it yourself!)

An ugly but impressive homemade cathedral

That night we visited the Prado Museum (Madrid's Louvre, basically) and ate a more traditional dinner. A TV in the restaurant was playing the Spanish film awards ceremony live, and I realized, to my astonishment and horror, that I was within one mile of the legendary Javier Bardem. (Sadly, we decided it would not be practical to break into Madrid's Opera House.) We cheered in the streets for a while with a crowd of kids who were celebrating something... apparently basketball?... and went to a famous chocolate churros place afterwards. Monday morning was hectic -- we had an 11am train to catch -- but Andrea, Sonia and I made it to the Reina Sofia Museum for its 10am opening. We got to see Picasso's Guernica and other famous works by Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and other modern artists. I wish we had spent more time there rather than at the Prado Museum, because I found the 20th century artwork really interesting and much more "Spanish."

We entered Madrid's Atocha Station, which had a really cool mini rainforest inside, and after admiring a turtle farm for a while (???) we boarded our train for southern Spain. This was yet another amazing European train ride, comparable to the trip from Berlin to Prague; I'm so glad we didn't fly! The scenery was phenomenal. We were surrounded by hills and mountains on all sides, and occasionally some ancient hilltop castles poked through the low-hanging clouds. Finally we arrived in Seville, and I couldn't have been more excited.

A lovely day in romantic Seville

Once we found our hostel, unpacked, and started walking around the city, I knew one thing to be true: Seville was my ideal paradise. A few key words will make it clear why I thought so: Palm trees. Sunshine. Orange trees. Guitar music. Flamenco. Beautiful people. COLOR everywhere. Our tour guide that afternoon showed us a beautiful palace-turned-hotel where Johnny Depp had stayed a few days earlier, and I could certainly see why celebrities would hang out in Seville. We also saw the town's central cathedral (which featured a beautiful Islamic-inspired tower), the so-called "kissing street" (so tiny that two people could kiss across their balconies), and a Star Wars/Lawrence of Arabia film location (the Plaza de España). I was forced to play a "French princess" in a historical skit concerning Christopher Columbus... very strange but very funny... and later we got ice cream and had our usual siesta. We also found some time to go shopping (I swear, these girls have made me visit every single Zara and H&M in all of Europe) before finding dinner. It ended up being a romantic Valentine's Day meal at a misleading Italian restaurant where we were pretty sure all of our food had been microwaved.... oh well. To make up for it, we went into a bar across the street that seemed pretty popular -- it was ok, but filled mostly with Americans studying abroad. So on our walk home (which was extremely long, given that Seville is the most labyrinth-like city I've ever been in) we were lucky to come across another bar that said "1 Euro Chupitos." It was almost completely empty except for the bartender and a couple, but we ended up having a great time getting to know them, learning Spanish, and even buying the bartender drinks!

Plaza de España

On Tuesday, we got up early to see the Casa de Pilatos. It was only 4 blocks away from our hostel... and after nearly 45 minutes of walking in the rain, we eventually found it (YES, Seville is THAT difficult to navigate). This beautiful building complex was an Andalusian palace, whose detailed ornament really epitomized what I love about Islamic architecture. Every inch of every floor, wall, and ceiling was painted or sculpted delicately. The gardens were perfect; had it not been raining, I would have just sat there coloring orange trees all day.

Casa de Pilatos

I met up with Andrea and Kelsey at a nearby restaurant, one that we had been meaning to eat at, called Taberna Coloniales. Hands down... BEST decision of the trip. While we waited for Sonia, Kara, and Shachi to finish sketching at the palace, we sat at the bar and somehow managed to have a great conversation with the servers, even though they couldn't speak English. The girls took a while, so we tried a few of the tapas specials and even got local wine samples. There was some kind of fish covered in an amazing coffee-flavored sauce... potatoes with garlic and tomato sauce... chicken with almond sauce... if I could marry that meal, I would. We left around 4pm and tried to sketch around town a little bit more. And in the evening, we bought tickets to a flamenco show! I was so excited, because flamenco originated in Seville and we found a place that wasn't too touristy. The show at Casa de la Memoria was great -- it started off with just a guitar and a singer, and later, one female and then one male dancer performed. It was utterly entrancing. I was so captivated that I don't think I glanced offstage at all the whole time. When the two of them finally danced together, I wished I knew flamenco myself, because the dance was so beautiful and so intense. We got dinner at another recommended tapas bar, and after stopping by our favorite little bar again to say hello, we headed home.

Córdoba

Wednesday morning had been set aside for our trip to Córdoba. As dedicated architecture students, we couldn't possibly go to southern Spain without seeing its most important architectural landmark: the Great Mosque of Córdoba, which was later converted into a Catholic Cathedral. It was very hard to find, and the rainy weather didn't help, but we persevered and eventually found the huge "Mezquita" complex. The outside was gorgeous, since the yellowish stone of the buildings and the palm tree gardens went together very nicely. But it was the inside of the mosque that was truly astonishing. A huge hall, expanding in every direction, was filled with columns as far as the eye could see. The double-horseshoe-shaped arches are what make this building particularly famous, but even more impressive were the great pointed and "scooped-out" arches that separated different areas of the building. (Fun architecture fact #1: some people say that the pointed arches of Gothic architecture were originally inspired by Islamic pointed arches.) The cathedral, which was literally plopped down right in the center of the mosque, ruined the effect a little bit -- but it was nevertheless a beautiful building, full of intricate details and a beautiful mihrab.

That afternoon, we sketched some more and went back to our beloved restaurant for dinner. The waiters were happy to see us again, and they joked around with us all throughout the night. (One of them had a huge crush on Kara... it was so cute.) Six excellent meals and six bottles of wine later (don't judge), we were about to leave, until a hoard of Portugese boys came in and convinced us to go out with them. We had a fun-packed last night in Seville before sadly leaving the next day.

Our favorite restaurant and our favorite waiter

Most people usually aren't reluctant to travel to Barcelona, but we weren't eager to leave heavenly Seville, which was a shame. To make things worse, our arrival in Barcelona involved a freezing walk in the pouring rain for 1 hour. I decided to walk around town for a little bit -- I saw Las Ramblas (the main shopping street), Plaça de Catalunya, the old Gothic quarter of town, and the Marina (my first view of the Mediterranean!). But I couldn't handle the cold for long, so I went back to the hostel in Les Corts where we spent most of the evening just lounging around and meeting fellow backpackers. We had dinner at an authentic Catalonian restaurant -- really good, and rather French. One of the difficult adjustments to make in Barcelona was dealing with the Catalan language. I didn't realize how much more prominent it is than Spanish -- every sign, every menu, everything was in a language that none of us knew. But since it seemed like half Spanish and half French, we managed to get by.

On Friday morning, we set out on a mission: to discover Gaudi. THIS was what I had come to Barcelona for. Referring back to my earlier comment about that crazy cathedral in Madrid -- well, when we finally saw Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelona, I knew I would never see a more awesome building ever again. Ever. The Sagrada Família is Gaudi's most famous work, probably (a) because it looks really weird, (b) because it is incredibly complex, and (c) because it's been under construction for 130 years. I can't wait for it to be finished in 20-40 years; I'll definitely go back for that grand opening. I was initially annoyed by the 12€ entrance fee, but then I realized, Hey! I'm contributing to its construction! The church is covered in weird symbolic shapes, and the inside feels like a forest of alien trees, with the stained glass bathing the whole room in crazy colors... I seriously wanted to stay in there forever. (Fun architecture fact #2: Gaudi figured out the church's design by hanging weights on strings. He then flipped the whole model upside down to create a perfectly stable structure.)

An aerial photo I found of Gaudi's Sagrada Família Church

The Passion Facade entrance

In the afternoon, we made our second-most-important Gaudi pilgrimage: to the Parc Güell. What a delightful afternoon... we looked over all of Barcelona, sat in the sun, listened to live music, and walked through Gaudi's twisting and turning stone passages. After visiting Gaudi's house, I got lost for a little bit -- I delved a little too deep into the park and was wandering into people's backyards at one point, oops! -- but we reconvened as the sun set. I loved the park so much that I knew I would come back to do an in-depth architectural study (the assignment for the week).

Main staircase up to the Parc Güell

Anyone remember America's Next Top Model here?

Upper terrace of the Parc Güell

That night we had dinner near Catalunya and afterwards went to the famous Espit Chupitos bar. This place had the craziest shots I'd ever heard of: some of which were the "Harry Potter" (lit on fire), the "Finding Nemo" (green with whipped cream), and the "Boy Scout" (you had to roast a marshmallow over it before drinking it). Unfortunately most of the people there were Americans... I don't know where all the Spanish kids were... so we didn't stay for long. On the plus side, we had met some kids from Ireland at our hostel who tagged along -- so it was fun to get to know them while discovering Barcelona together.

Saturday was pretty much Gaudi: The Sequel, since the highlights of the day were seeing two of his houses in Barcelona. The Casa Batllo was really weird and really awesome: it looked alive, like it was made of bones and dragon scales. Down the street, La Pedrera (a.k.a. Casa Mila) was also really cool. These were some of the first buildings to use such crazy curved forms; future architects like Le Corbusier and Frank Gehry can thank Gaudi for that. In the afternoon, we walked along Barcelona's beach for a while. I also went to see Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion, a really interesting modern home built with beautiful, pristine materials. Our dinner at a traditional Barcelona restaurant and our evening at a friend's house were also very nice, but I was more excited to revisit Parc Güell the next day. On Sunday morning, I sketched there for a few hours, soaking in as much of that wonderful atmosphere as I possibly could. Our whole group joined up again for lunch outside the Sagrada Familia (fittingly), so I got to see it one last time. Barcelona on the whole was rather exhausting and a little too big for me to handle in 4 days, but seeing Gaudi's work made it worth it. Discovering Spain overall was an even better experience than I expected it to be. I may not have run into Javier Bardem à la Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and it may not have been swimsuit weather, but the people I met and the experiences we shared were unforgettable.