Weekend of Carnaval

I didn't post a blog last week because I didn't want to write two boring posts in a row, so I’ll write something short about it now. During the week of January 25, I taught third and fourth grades about Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Carnaval is a big deal in Spain, so their teacher asked me to share with them something about how we celebrate in the States. One day, we learned new vocabulary like “float,” “parade,” “Lent,” and “beads,” and then I showed them pictures and talked about Mardi Gras. The following day, they colored and cut out Mardi Gras masks. The results were pretty cute, and definitely creative.

Mardi Gras masks by third grade students

On Friday, I went to the elementary school again, despite being my day off, because they were having an assembly to celebrate El Día de la Paz, or the Day of Peace. The whole school piled into the gym, and every grade had prepared something to perform or share. First and second grade recited a poem together about peace, third and fourth read quotes about peace by famous people, and fifth and sixth grade sang “What a Wonderful World” (the version by The Ramones). I particularly enjoyed the song not only because they sang in English, but also because a group of music students from the high school came to the assembly to accompany the children with instruments, including recorders, guitars, drums, and more. It was funny for me because I know the high school students as well, so I knew every student there. I almost forgot to add that the infantil students cut out doves to celebrate Día de la Paz, which they brought to the assembly. To me, the doves seemed to serve little purpose for anything other than waving them around or hitting each other, but it was a nice thought.

Fifth and sixth grade singing (high school students are sitting on the floor on the left)

I had planned on another quiet weekend in Quintanar, but my friend Kendra invited me to Madrid on Saturday, so I decided to go to the city for the day. We were both interested in going to this group discussion geared toward expats about coping with living away from home, which ended up being really interesting. And it’s always nice to meet other English speakers! During the rest of the day, we wandered around the shopping district and visited a few cafes, but Kendra wasn't feeling well towards the late afternoon so she decided to go to a doctor while we were in Madrid. So while she went to the doctor, I found a second-hand English bookstore to browse while I waited for the next bus back to Quintanar. My friend Blair, who lives in Madrid, was kind enough to come meet me. But I was so happy to see her and we ended up talking for so long that I ended up missing my bus—which turned out to be the last one back to Quintanar. So I ended up having an impromptu sleepover at Blair’s apartment. It was really nice to have more time to catch up, but thank heavens I know someone who lives in Madrid, or who knows what I would've done.

Sunday and the rest of the week were quiet and uneventful. The only noteworthy thing I have to share is that I'm no longer teaching the little kids after school! I can't tell you what a relief this is. I originally thought I was keeping my lessons with 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, but it turns out that I'm only going to have 5th and 6th. So my youngest students will be 10 years old. What a relief.

I was really looking forward to the weekend, because Morgan and I had an action-packed weekend planned. On Friday, we went from Quintanar to Salamanca for the day. Salamanca is a university town northwest of Madrid in Castilla y León. Founded in 1164, the University of Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain and the second or third oldest in Europe (There’s some debate about this). I had been interested in visiting Salamanca since I came to Spain, so I was thrilled that it was finally happening. I had heard only nice things about the Golden City, as some call it because many of the buildings in Salamanca are made from sandstone. Furthermore, because it’s a college town, the city is full of young people and it has a thriving international population due to the university’s prestige.

Morgan and I had to change buses in Madrid, so by the time we got to Salamanca, it was 12:30 in the afternoon. Our first order of business was to find a tourist map to prioritize what we wanted to do for the day, so we set off in the direction of Plaza Mayor, where the tourism office was. We got mildly lost on our way there, and ended up wandering around for awhile before we actually found the plaza. But we made it there eventually!

Salamanca Plaza Mayor

We got a map and started to plan a route to see the sights. Something that jumped out at us on the map was a site named Casa de Las Muertes. For anyone who doesn't understand Spanish, that translates to House of the Dead. We were understandably intrigued, so Morgan asked one of the people working in the tourist office what it was. She explained that it was a building whose façade had skulls on it. Morgan asked if it was somewhere that we could go in, and she explained no, it’s just something to look at from the outside. It wasn't far from the Plaza Mayor, so we decided to start our sightseeing with the House of the Dead.

Well, when we actually found it, we were taken a bit by surprise. It turns out that Casa de las Muertes had a grand total of four small skulls on the whole front of the building. They were so small that at first, Morgan didn't even see them. We both expected something a bit more macabre due to the dramatic name, so when we realized that this was it, I think we caused a scene in the street because we were laughing so hard. I discovered later from a quick Google search that the real reason for the nickname is because of a local legend purporting that 4 people were murdered there. Combined with the skulls on the front, this makes a bit more sense, but it was by far the funniest moment of the day.

The illustrious Casa de las Muertes (the skulls are below the windows, on the rounded parts)

We then visited Casa de las Conchas, which is a building whose façade is covered in seashells. It was built in the 1400s by a former professor at the University of Salamanca, but it has since been turned into the public library.

Casa de las Conchas façade

Our next stop was the cathedral. Salamanca has two cathedrals: an old and a new cathedral. They’re actually attached to one another (a fact which took us an embarrassingly long time to figure out). The old one is very plain. The only remarkable thing about it is a very tall bell tower. But the new cathedral is gorgeous. It was built between 1513 and 1733, so the architectural style uses both Gothic and Baroque.

Morgan and I in front of the New Cathedral

New Cathedral doorway

The most interesting thing about the new cathedral (Funny that the “new” cathedral was mostly built in the 1600s, isn't it? So many things in Spain are unfathomably old) is an addition by the architect who restored it in 1992. The architect wanted to leave his mark after heading a large restoration of the cathedral, so he added some unusual carvings around one of the doors. The carvings include an astronaut, a faun eating ice cream, an Iberian Lynx, a bull, and a lobster.

Strange carvings from 1992 restoration

We then ventured over to the oldest university building to find La Rana Suerte, or the lucky frog. Salamanca is famous for this frog, and if you find it in the busy façade, then it's supposed to bring you good luck. We found the frog, but it's so small that it was a bit disappointing. It's perched on top of a skull carving, and it's so small and high up that it look like the skull just has a bump on its head. But oh well. At least we found it! Now we'll have good luck.

University façade with la rana suerte

I think the frog is too small to see in the photo, but you're welcome to look! Then you'll have good luck too. Hint: it's on the right column that stretches the length of the building.

Our next order of business was to climb the towers of La Clerecía, which were named Scala Coeli (In Latin, this basically means “stairway to heaven”). Thankfully, the climb wasn't actually that high, and Morgan and I were the only ones there, which was pretty cool. The two towers are connected, so you can cross from one to the other without descending. Furthermore, the top is actually a bell tower, which was also pretty neat. And the views were incredible, of course.

At the top of Scala Coeli

The Cathedral from Scala Coeli

In the bell tower!

We had lunch in the Plaza Mayor after we descended, and then we walked down to the Roman bridge that crossed the Río Tormes. The bridge afforded lovely views of the cathedral, and the water from the river was really clear and pretty.

Río Tormes

We then went to Museo de Art Nouveau y Art Déco Casa Lis, which was an art nouveau museum that had gorgeous stained glass everywhere in addition to the art collection. Visitors weren't supposed to take pictures in the main hall, but I couldn't resist sharing the stained glass ceiling.

Stained glass ceiling in Casa Lis

Stained glass windows (and Morgan!)

More stained glass

Our last tourist stop in Salamanca was Huerto de Calixto y Melibea. This is a park close to the cathedral that is meant to recreate the story from La Celestina, considered to be one of the greatest works of Spanish literature. I'm not familiar with the story, so the meaning behind the park had little effect on me, but it was really lovely. I can't imagine how pretty it must be in the summer!

In Huerto de Calixto y Melibea

Morgan and I then wandered back towards the Plaza Mayor and past it into a shopping and eating area, where we had a snack at a café. I enjoyed seeing the Plaza Mayor at night, and it was nice to sit down after a lot of walking.

Plaza Mayor at night

We then caught the last bus back to Madrid, arriving to the station around midnight. By the time we checked into our hostel, it was 1:30 in the morning. We had to catch a bus at 7:30 in the morning to Cádiz, so we slept for a very short time before it was time to be up again.

Saturday was our big day. We were going down to Cádiz for their Carnaval celebration, but we were just going for the day. Considering that Cádiz is on the southern tip of Spain and we were leaving from Madrid in the center of the country, this was actually quite a feat. But Cádiz Carnaval is the Mardi Gras of Spain, so trying to find a room (if we could find one at all) would have been very expensive. So we went with a tour group, leaving at 7:30, took one half-hour rest stop, and arrived in Cádiz at 3pm. It was a long day, but I was really looking forward to the celebration.

We (finally) got off the bus in Plaza San Juan de Díos. Even though it was only three in the afternoon, many people were already wearing costumes. Carnaval costumes are meant to be funny and creative, and they were in no short supply in Cádiz. The number of men I saw in drag (including high heels and all) was staggering.

Plaza de San Juan de Díos

We then walked along the water down to the beach, passing the cathedral on our way. Can't visit a city in Spain without seeing the cathedral, right?

Seaside views

Cathedral dome

Cádiz is pretty nice, I guess

Morgan and I separated from our group then to do our own thing. We first visited Castillo de Santa Catalina, a castle on the water (Although I use the term “castle” very loosely because it wasn't very well-preserved). We then wandered along the winding streets of the city towards the center. Cádiz is famous for their chirigotas, which are groups that wear matching costumes and perform songs, usually satirical songs related to current events. While we were wandering around, we heard many chirigotas, but the areas around them were so crowded that we couldn't see them. I was confident that we would be able to see them later.

On the beach

"Castillo" de Santa Catalina

Wandering the streets of the city

We eventually found our way back to Plaza San Juan de Díos, but not before passing through Plaza de la Catedral. The cathedral plaza was absolutely packed with people, despite being late afternoon, meaning that the festivities hadn't really started yet. But when we saw that there was a university residence in the plaza, it started to make more sense. Perhaps the best surprise of visiting Cádiz though was that there was an American restaurant in the Plaza San Juan de Díos. I had convinced Morgan to go to an Irish pub for lunch the day before in Salamanca because I was really excited at the prospect of not eating Spanish food, but it turned out that the pub only had drinks. But this was an actual American restaurant! I love Spanish food, but there isn't a lot of variety (read: every dish includes ham), so I was thrilled at the prospect of eating something different. I pigged out at the American place. I had an appetizer, an entrée (a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, which I enjoyed more than I can say), and dessert. We ended up staying in that restaurant for several hours. It was a really nice break to take in the midst of our wandering.

By the time we left the restaurant, Carnaval was in full swing. We donned our costumes (we both had carnival masks, gloves, and feather headbands) and resumed our wandering. Most of the festivities were concentrated around Plaza de San Antonio, the central plaza of the city, and in Barrio de la Viña, a neighborhood close to the sea. We headed in the direction of Plaza de San Antonio first. However, we weren't using a map, so this ended up being a bit more of a challenge than we expected. We managed to find basically every plaza in the city (And, this being Spain, there were plenty of them) before we found Plaza de San Antonio. But in our travels, we wandered through Plaza de la Catedral again, and if I thought it was crowded the first time, the second time was insane.

Ready for Carnaval!

The Cathedral Plaza was a little crowded

Eventually, we finally found our way to Plaza de San Antonio (passing through Plaza de las Flores, Plaza de Mina, Plaza de la Candelaria, Plaza de San Augustín, Plaza San Francisco, and several others along the way). When we got there, a singer in costume was in the middle of a performance. It was pretty cool to see, and we were so relieved that we finally made it!

Plaza de San Antonio

After all that walking, we were eager to sit down again, so we passed another hour in a bar before resuming our wandering, this time over to Barrio de la Viña. There was another stage over here, but rather than a concert-like performance like the one in Plaza de San Antonio, this stage was for the chirigotas. We plunged into the crowd to get closer, but we realized about halfway through that there were just too many people. Furthermore, everyone around us was falling-down drunk by the time, so it was a little claustrophobic. We managed to double back and go around the back of the stage. We couldn't see everything from there, of course, but we could see the costumes and hear the singing, and that was the most important part anyway. It ended up being an excellent place to see the show without being smothered by drunk people. And we got to take photos with the members of the chirigotas when they left the stage!

Our view from behind the stage

Posing with a steampunk chirigota

His guitar looks like a lion!

We hung around there for awhile before heading back in the direction of where our bus would be leaving. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 3am, and we got back to Plaza de San Juan de Díos a little before 2. The day up until then had been basically perfect, but the last hour waiting for the bus seemed to take a very long time. The weather had become cold and windy, and it had started to drizzle. When the bus pulled up, I was relieved both to sit down and to get out of the cold. There were some stragglers coming back, so the bus left at 3:30. Other than when I woke up at the rest stop to use the bathroom, I slept from the moment I sat down until the bus dropped us off in Madrid at 11 the next morning.

Since we were in Madrid anyway, Morgan and I had decided to make a day of it. We both managed to sleep quite a bit on the bus, so we decided to follow through with the plan. We went to the Puerta de Atocha train station and bought tickets for El Escorial. El Escorial is a relatively famous monastery about an hour north of Madrid. However, it’s not just a monastery. King Philip II commissioned it to be a complex where his family could live. So in addition to the monastery, it also houses a convent, a hospital, a school, a library, a basilica, a mausoleum, two palaces, expansive gardens, and an art gallery, all within one compound. King Philip II basically ensured that if his family didn't want to leave the premises, they didn't have to.

No photos were allowed inside, but El Escorial is incredible. One of the palaces was used as a hunting lodge by a royal family who lived there after Philip died, so since they were usually there in the autumn when it was chilly, they insulated the place with Flemish tapestries. The thing about Flemish tapestries is that their quality and worth is unparalleled. Like a large Flemish tapestry could buy you a house, and there were a minimum of five in every room that we visited. I can't wrap my head around that kind of wealth. And then when we toured the mausoleum, there were altars made from solid gold and tombs carved from marble. Seriously, the opulence was off the charts.

El Escorial from an inner courtyard

El Escorial from the outer courtyard

I know my favorite part of the tour and I think Morgan’s too was visiting the library. Every book I saw had gilded pages, and they had a Greek/Latin dictionary that was one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. Morgan compared some of the books that were on display to the books that you see at the beginning of old Disney movies, where there’s a giant O to start the phrase “Once upon a time” and the page is filled with colorful text. It was a spot-on comparison. But again, between all of the gilded books and the first editions, I also can't imagine the worth of the contents of the library.

Like I said, no pictures were allowed, but I couldn't resist one sneaky picture in the library. It was too beautiful to pass up.

After we left the library, we wandered around the gardens, which was my second favorite part. Despite the windchill, it was just so pretty. On our way from the train station to the monastery (which was an entirely uphill, 30 minute walk, by the way) Morgan made the observation that the town of El Escorial really didn't look like Spain, and I had to agree with her. It looked more like somewhere in Central Europe, like Germany. When we were touring the palaces, we discovered that Philip II was a member of the Habsburg family, who mostly lived in Austria, so that explained a lot. I don't know how much of the town was there before they built the monastery, but if they built the monastery first in a Germanic style, it would make sense that the rest of the town followed suit. Furthermore, the backdrop just so happened to be snowcapped mountains, which are a rarity in Spain. So long story short, visiting El Escorial felt like taking a trip to Germany for the day.

Casually in Germany for the afternoon

Felt like I was in The Secret Garden

Seriously, this is in Spain.

We ended our weekend by taking the train back to Madrid, then the metro to the bus station, then the bus back to Quintanar. We got back at 10, but I was so exhausted that it felt like the middle of the night. I went to bed at 12:30 and didn't stir until the afternoon the following day. It was a whirlwind, tiring weekend, but it was a ton of fun, especially because Morgan is such a great travel companion. The rest of this week is a quiet one, because we had school off yesterday and today for Carnaval, so I only have a two-day week before the weekend rolls around again. This weekend should be quiet, but I have big plans for the following!