29-S and other notable events

These past three weeks have been nothing but travel. Having finished my intensive course, I have been traveling throughout the peninsula and even making it over the Germany.

Lisbon

My parents and I traveled to Lisbon for the weekend of the 24th of September and had a fantastic time taking in the city. Immediate impressions of Lisbon were that the air is quite different than in Madrid which is because of its proximity to the ocean. In many ways, Lisbon looks and feels like Valparaiso, Chile with its multicolored buildings, expansive plazas along the waterfront, the hillsides that surround the city on each side, and even the hillside elevators which take you to the castle and the Barrio Alto. Beautiful. Dined on some delicious seafood in an old Moorish mansion.

Another impression is that the Portuguese generally speak English better than Spanish which is because it is required, as it is in most countries, for students at an early age to learn English. Furthermore, I learnt from our tour guide the extensive history and alliance between Great Britain and Portugal – the same cannot be said for Spain and Portugal. To take in more history and views, we traveled into the countryside and into the mountains to visit the village of Sintra, basically northern Italy on the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pena Palace – the old summer retreat for the Portuguese royalty until the revolution in the early 20th century. Look at the pictures to understand how beautiful it was.

Back to Madrid

So we celebrated my mother’s birthday in Madrid as we did for my 21st. Traveling through the old city to see my parents off on the 28th of September was truly one of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. We ended up eating Italian food that night as my palate for the Spanish cuisine is slowly wearing off. (not to say that I dislike the food here but I miss the variety!). We went to a super cool terrace bar in the heart of the city called Urban – has a pool and the best views of the city. Made friends with some Mexican tourists there. It was great.

As we were wining on the top of this building, we began to hear people gathering outside in front of the nearby Congress. The general strike throughout Spain had begun before I eyes on the day following my mother’s birthday. The strike continued to affect our plans in that my parents had to wait until two days later to be able to leave. Quite a mess over here for a few days. But nothing to severe in that everything returned to normal after a day or two.

So there you have it: more Madrid madness. I must continue in another entry my luck at Munich and my past trip to Barcelona. Until then.