The Haggertys Celebrate Christmas in Spain

I left off my last blog post in Madrid, where I was staying overnight because my family was flying into the Madrid airport in the morning. I stayed in an Airbnb apartment that was 10 minutes away from the airport, so when I woke up in the morning, I just hopped on a bus and I was at the airport in 15 minutes. My family's flight was on time, so thankfully I didn't have long to wait. I can't recall a time I was happier than when I saw my family pass through the airport doors.

After we finished hugging and exclaiming about how happy we were to see each other, we hopped on the light rail to get to the train station, because we were going right on to Barcelona. My family landed at 9 in the morning, but I had booked us a later train ticket because I was concerned they might get delayed. Our train wasn't until 12:30, so we had quite a bit of time to kill in the station. However, that ended up being for the best, because we had all sorts of issues with printing my sister's train ticket. I won't bore you with the details, but we figured it out, and still had plenty of time to spare. We hung out in a cafe, eating breakfast and talking. My parents had their first experiences with Spanish coffee (which is at least half milk, much to their dismay) and my sister tried Iberian ham, which they all said tastes like prosciutto. When the time came to board the train, I was excited because I had booked us seats around a table, so we were facing each other. I was excited about the prospect of using the train time to take in the lovely views and catch up with each other. However, the joke was on me; my family was jet-lagged and exhausted, so basically as soon as we sat down, everyone fell asleep, including me.

When we got to Barcelona, we took a cab to our Airbnb apartment. My mom and I had spent several hours on the phone one day, booking apartments in different cities, and I was eager to see how this went. I've stayed in a bunch of Airbnb places before, but I'd never had a whole apartment to myself. Our host in Barcelona was lovely, and the location couldn't be better. The cab driver actually dropped us off next to La Rambla, which is the largest pedestrian shopping street in Barcelona, and it's basically in the heart of the touristy section of the city. And we were staying on another pedestrian street that was in the Gothic quarter, which is my favorite part of Barcelona. Location is everything, so I was really excited about where we were staying.

Once we got settled and everyone had a chance to freshen up, we went back out to La Boquería, which is this incredible market on La Rambla. They have fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, pastries and sweets, prepared foods, and more. It's one of my favorite markets I've ever visited, and I've visited a lot of markets at this point. I was eager to show my dad, because he loves "local ag," and I'm pretty sure he wasn't disappointed. After the food market, we went to Barcelona's biggest Christmas market, which is right in front of the Cathedral of Barcelona in the Gothic Quarter. Most of the stuff they had there was for los belenes, or nativity scenes, but there was some really pretty jewelry and handicraft stuff too. I think we all enjoyed wandering through it. 

We were pretty hungry at this point, so we decided to go for dinner. We found a restaurant that had good reviews and a big menu, so we went inside and asked for a table. The waiter invited us to wait at the bar while he prepared the table. We ordered drinks and waited. And waited. And 20 minutes went by and there was still no sign of a table for us. So I explained to a different waiter that we wanted to eat, and he exclaimed that they were confused. In hindsight, that was my error. We got to the restaurant around 7:30, and of course no Spanish restauranteur would realize that we wanted dinner, because Spanish people wouldn't be eating for at least another two hours. After we cleared up the little mixup, my family then had their first experience with Spanish tapas. They were actually more of a hit than I expected--although, if I recall correctly, they all ordered burgers as their entree, but I considered it a win because they had tapa appetizers. 

Waiting for the table that would never come

We did a little bit of shopping after dinner, primarily for shoes, but overall, we called it an early night, because I had an absolutely action-packed day planned for us the following day. We were in Barcelona on December 23, 24, and 25. On the 23rd, we got there late in the afternoon because of all the travel, so that didn't leave much time for sightseeing. And on the 25th, basically everything worth visiting would be closed. So that meant that we only had one day to see the best sights in Barcelona, and that was a challenge that I took very seriously. I had been there in May, so thankfully I knew the best of the best. The challenge was fitting them into one day. But frankly, if anyone could do it, I knew I could, as long as I could keep my family on schedule.

In the morning, we got up and caught a hop-on, hop-off bus from Plaça de Cataluyna, because it had stops at all of the sights that I thought were worth seeing. It took us through part of the Gothic quarter, near the port of Barcelona, and over to Barceloneta beach, where we first got off. I think my sister was sad to see the Mediterranean and not be able to swim in it, but it was a beautiful morning.

Nothing like going to the beach on Christmas Eve!

We got back on the bus and headed over to La Sagrada Familia, the most incredible church in Barcelona. I had visited La Sagrada Familia in May, but I had only seen it from the outside, so I was really excited about this stop because we had a guided tour of the interior of the church. To say that it's breathtaking would be an understatement. I knew Antoni Gaudí, the architect of this masterpiece, was a genius even before this tour, but I was really blown away by the detail and effort he put into everything. And to think that he accomplished all of it before we had computers. His crew worked from plaster models that he handmade himself. Really, the whole thing was totally surreal.

Interior stained glass windows

Main aisle, whose columns are meant to look like trees

The Passion Facade

After we finished the tour of the interior, we went to the top of one of the towers. We took an elevator to the top and then stairs back down to the bottom, and let me tell you, the stairs were a killer. But it was worth it. The views of Barcelona were incredible, as were the views of the rest of the church itself on the way down. 

View of Barcelona from the tower

Family selfie at the top!

On the way down

Once our legs stopped shaking from exertion, we went back outside and hopped on the bus to go to Park Güell. Park Güell, another Gaudí creation, is my favorite thing in Barcelona. The views are incredible and it's just really cool and different. Gaudí created it to be basically a gated neighborhood for wealthy families, so it has a common area for meeting and hanging out, an area that was meant to be a market, a water and drainage system, and two buildings that were meant to have municipal purposes. Strangely, no one wanted to live there aside from the wealthy businessman who had commissioned it, Mr. Güell, as well as Gaudí himself. The Güell family actually still owns a house on the property, but it's separated from the rest of the park.

We left the park and had lunch at a place nearby that had many kinds of paella, which my sister and my dad were both eager to try. I love paella, but the most common way it's served is with seafood, and I hate seafood. However, this place had chicken paella, so I was a happy camper. Unfortunately, my mom hated her paella and Julia didn't particularly care for it, either. I enjoyed mine and I think my dad did, too. But oh well. When in Rome, I suppose (or when in Spain, in our case!). We then got back on the bus and went to the foot of Mount Tibidabo. Tibidabo is the tallest mountain in the Serra de Collserola range, but you can actually drive to the top, which we did, via cab. There's a church as well as an amusement park at the summit of the mountain, which is just as cool as it sounds. I didn't have a chance to get to Tibidabo when I was in Barcelona in May, so I was really excited about going this time. And let me tell you, it was well-worth the wait. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if the amusement park was open.

View from Tibidabo

Sagrat Cor church, at the top of the mountain

We then descended the mountain and stopped at Casa Milà, another Gaudí building (he's kind of a big deal in Barcelona). We didn't have tickets, so we could only see it from the outside, but it was decorated for Christmas!

Casa Milà, also known as La Pedrera

Casa Milà and yet another of Gaudí's creations for which we had tickets, Casa Batlló, are on a really prominent street in Barcelona called Passeig de Gràcia. This street is basically the Rodeo Drive of Barcelona; if you wanted to drop some serious cash, Passeig de Gràcia is where to go. On our way to Casa Batlló, we walked by Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Gucci, Bvlgari, and Jimmy Choo, just to name a few. When it comes to Casa Batlló, I genuinely only have nice things to say. We had an audio tour and an interactive tablet that showed what the house looked like when it was furnished, and the house itself was incredible, as I expected it to be.

Casa Batlló

Inside of Casa Batlló

On the roof

On the roof

What a whirlwind day. Really, it was crazy that we managed to get everything in, but we did it. We barely managed to catch the last bus back to the Gothic quarter, and we decided to go shopping for our Christmas dinner. We were eating out for Christmas Eve dinner and for lunch on Christmas, but we had decided to cook at the apartment for dinner. I'll save you the sordid details, but this ended up being more of a difficult endeavor than we expected. Half of the market where my dad and I went was closed, and the supermarket where my mom and Julia went was apparently an absolute madhouse. We managed to get everything we needed, but we missed our Christmas Eve dinner reservation. We went to the restaurant anyway, hopeful that we would be able to get a table, and we actually had no problem, which was a relief. On Christmas morning, we got up and went to Christmas mass at the cathedral. I really enjoyed listening to a mass in Spanish, and I actually understood some of the readings. The best part, as is always the case with Christmas mass for me, was the music. The chamber choir of Barcelona sang at the mass we attended, and it was really beautiful.

Happy Holidays from the Haggertys!

We accidentally wore coordinating dresses

After mass, we went to a cafe in Plaça Reial, a really pretty plaza that we discovered accidentally a couple of nights prior. We enjoyed hanging out there so much that we decided to have lunch in that plaça as well. Then we went back to the apartment and watched It's a Wonderful Life. It was a really nice, leisurely Christmas, and we really needed it after our crazy Christmas Eve. In the evening, we went to Palau Nacional de Montjuic, which is this lovely former palace that is now a museum, and it has an incredible fountain show coordinated with lights and music. I had read that they had a special holiday fountain show, and it did not disappoint.

Selfie at the fountain show

We went back to the apartment to make dinner after that. We had decided to have Iberian ham and macaroni and cheese for dinner. We soon realized that there were no casserole dishes in the whole kitchen, but my mom managed to improvise. And the mac and cheese was delicious! We listened to Christmas music while we ate and went to bed early, because we were leaving early in the morning. On the 26th, we were up early to take a train back to Madrid, where we were staying overnight. We took another hop-on, hop-off tour in Madrid so that my family could see the major sites. We mostly stayed on the bus so that they could see as much as possible, so we drove by the Palacio Real and the cathedral and the Palacio de Cibeles and down Gran Via, the biggest shopping street in Madrid. We got off the bus at Puerta del Sol, one of the most popular areas of the city, and walked over to Plaza Mayor for lunch. After lunch, we went to el Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, one of the big art museums in Madrid. Madrid's most famous museum is the Prado, but the Thyssen and the Reina Sofia are nothing to sneeze at either, and I had wanted to go to the Thyssen for some time. They had quite a bit of impressionist art, which everyone in my family likes, so I was excited to visit with them.

At the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza

The rest of our time in Madrid was pretty quiet. The best part about being there the day after Christmas were the Christmas lights. They were incredible. However, the city was really, really crowded, similar to New York at Christmastime. My mom, Julia, and I tried to take a special Christmas light bus tour, but the lines to get on the bus were so long that we decided to bag it. But Jule and my mom were both good sports about walking around with me to see some of the lights, and they did not disappoint.

Tree in Puerta del Sol

Lights in the Plaza Mayor

We were only in Madrid overnight, because we were actually coming to Quintanar the next day. My family wanted to see my neck of the woods, so we hopped on a bus in the morning and traveled into the heart of La Mancha. After we arrived, I took them on a walking tour of my town. We visited both of my schools (from the outside), the library, my favorite pedestrian pathways, and the business district. They were all surprised by how pretty Quintanar is, which made me very happy. And we met up with Vicki and Luis Felipe for drinks, so I was really happy that my family had the chance to meet my new friends.

Considering that there's not much else to do in Quintanar, we were only here overnight. In the morning, we went back to the bus station to catch one to Toledo, where we were spending another night. After we got settled in our Airbnb apartment, my dad went with me to pick up my tarjeta de identidad extranjera, or my foreign identity card. They made me wait an hour to hand me my card, which was very frustrating, but at least it's done! I don't have to deal with Spanish bureaucracy again while I'm here! Hooray! After that was taken care of, we started to see the sights in Toledo. I was really excited to share the City of Three Cultures with my family, because it has basically become my second home during my time in Spain. After a brief stop at the statue of Miguel Cervantes, author of Don Quijote, our first stop was the cathedral. My family loved the cathedral as much as I do, so I was pleased that I didn't overstate how incredible it is. Then we went to La Iglesia de Santo Tomé, which houses one of El Greco's masterpieces: El Entierro del Conde de Orgaz. The painting depicts a miracle in which two saints descended from heaven to help bury a count who had recently died. The detail in the painting is incredible, but no photos are allowed, so you can take my word for it.

The Haggertys and Cervantes

Our next stop was Sinagoga de Santa María la Blanca. Despite being a small and altogether unimpressive church, this is my favorite thing in Toledo. Toledo is known as the City of Three Cultures because it has lovely monuments for three big religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. This particular structure manages to represent all three. It was originally a synagogue, but after Ferdinand and Isabella kicked all of the Jews out of Spain during the Inquisition, it was turned into a Catholic church. Lastly, it was built using Moorish-style architecture, so it looks like a mosque on the inside. So in total, it's a synagogue and a church that looks like a mosque. Our next order of business was to take the tourist train. There's a little train that they run from the main square in the historic city, Plaza de Zocodover, and it takes tourists to the outskirts of the city to see the incredible views that have inspired artists for centuries. When you make the trek out there, it's easy to see why.

The View of Toledo

When the train got back, we went to our last religious site of the day: El Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes. I'd been waiting to visit this particular monastery until my family got there, and it was gorgeous on the inside. Queen Isabella is the one who commissioned it. She was a pretty scary lady on many counts, but when it comes to architecture, her taste is unparalleled.

El Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes

After a delicious dinner, we spent a quiet night in the apartment. My dad was leaving the following day because he had to go back to work before my mom and Julia had to, so we were traveling on to Sevilla without him. So we were up early the next morning and on a train to Madrid. At the station, my dad took a taxi to the airport and us girls got on another train down to Andalucía. I really wish my dad could have stayed for the duration of the trip, because Sevilla was really lovely.

When we arrived in Sevilla, our first order of business was to get to our apartment. We had a place in Triana, a hip neighborhood known for it's tile which was across the Guadalquivir river from the main attractions of the city. So in order to do any real sightseeing, we had to cross the river, which I actually really liked. But we were pretty beat by this time, considering all of the walking we'd done, so we ended up taking more cabs than I expected we would.

Guadalquivir River

My sister's number one priority while in Sevilla was to visit the Real Alcázar de Sevilla, or Sevilla's castle and its gardens, because they were a shooting location for the TV show Game of Thrones (For anyone interested, the alcázar is Dorne in the show). She had been looking forward to it all week, and I don't think she was disappointed.

In a courtyard of the alcázar

Right here was where Julia exclaimed, "Oh my God, it's Dorne!"

After visiting the alcázar, the rest of the day was pretty leisurely. We enjoyed a lunch at an Irish pub right near the river, and saw a beautiful sunset on our way back to the apartment. Then, later that night, we went to a flamenco show. I'd already seen flamenco when I was in Barcelona last May, but I was eager to share it with my mom and Julia to see what they thought. Julia couldn't get past the yodeling-like singing (one man in particular was too ridiculous with his facial expressions), but I could watch the dancing all night long. I just think it's gorgeous, and so different from anything else.

Sunset over the Puente de Triana

In the morning, we slept in a little before going to El Palacio de Lebrija. This palace, which was formerly owned by a countess with a really eclectic sense of decorating taste, was one of my priorities in Sevilla, and it was really incredible. We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house, but I promise you that it's gorgeous, and definitely worth a visit if you're in Sevilla.

Courtyard of El Palacio de Lebrija

Our next stop was the cathedral of Sevilla. When in Spain, there is no such thing as too many churches. The Sevilla cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the third-largest church in the world. When I say that this structure is incredible, it is a huge understatement. It also happens to house the remains of the one and only Christopher Columbus, which was an added bonus that I didn't even know about before visiting.

The tower behind us in the photo above is called La Giralda, and you can climb to the top to get incredible views of the city. It was a hike to get up there, but it was amazing.

View from La Giralda

Mom and I in La Giralda

Our last tourist stop in Sevilla was the most important one for me, and the one I had been looking forward to the most. The Plaza de España, which is in Parque de María Luisa, is really famous, and when you see the photos, you'll see why. Photos don't even do it justice, and the weather when we were there couldn't have been better.

Plaza de España 

Visiting the Plaza de España was probably the highlight of our time in Sevilla for me, but that's a hard distinction to make. It's such a beautiful city, and there are just so many things to see. 

Later that evening, we had a quiet evening of shopping, mostly for the tile for which Triana is famous. My mom got a few things that she was really happy about. The rest of the night, we spent packing and watching a movie, because unbelievably, the time for my family to go home had arrived. We got up early in the morning and took the train back to Madrid with plenty of time for them to get to the airport to fly back home. Saying goodbye to them was really, really hard, because June is a long way off. Furthermore, it was New Year's Eve, and I was spending the night in Madrid by myself with no one to celebrate with. However, the reason that I was in Madrid was because I would be boarding an airplane the following day as well--but in my case, the plane was going to Egypt!

Look for my next post about my Egyptian adventure. It'll be another doozy length-wise, but it'll be worth the read, I promise