After leaving Valladolid, we spent 4 days in Madrid. Sunday during the day, there was nothing planned, so some went to museums, others went shopping, and everyone did some sight-seeing. The picture to the left is the Plaza de España, and below are pictures of the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and Parque del Buen Retiro.
At night, we went to a flamenco show. Flamenco is a famous genre of song and dance from southern Spain. We went to a "tablao flamenco" which is a more informal concert in a cafe/bar. The show consisted of two guitarrists and two singers. Then there were three dancers. They took turns dancing solo, and then also dancing all three at once. The flamenco songs and dances are very passionate and intensely emotional.
On our third day in Madrid, we took a day-trip to Toledo. Toledo is connected to Madrid by the AVE, which is a high-speed train, so we were able to travel to Toledo in 30 minutes. Once in Toledo, we took the "tourist" bus to the mirador which has great views of the entire city. Toledo is a city on a hill, and two-thirds of the city is surrounded by the Tajo River.
We made our way around the city by bus, and then entered the city through the Puerta de Bisagra.
The bus then took us the the center of the city and dropped us off at Plaza Zocodover. From there we walked to the Cathedral, and then divided into groups and went our separate ways.
Toledo is a medieval city with small, winding, cobblestone streets. It's a great city to get lost in and explore. Toledo is known for it's mixture of cultures: Christinan, Muslum and Jewish, and you can see influences of each culture. throughout the city. It was also a good place to buy gifts to bring home to family and friends. Toledo has been a traditional sword-making and steel-working center and it is also famous for it's "damasquinado de oro" which is the art of decorating metals with gold.
On our last day in Madrid, some of the students and I took trip to El Escorial, which was about an hour from the city. It was once a monastery and Spanish royal palace. It is now a museum with many frescos and paintings, including paintings by Tintoretto, El Greco, Titian. El Escorial also has The Royal Pantheon where the majority of the Spanish royalty from the last five centuries are buried.
On our last night together, we went out for a group dinner at a restaurant near our hostel.
We had a tapa-style dinner that included 5 courses- all of which being very authenic Spanish dishes. We started our meal with jamon cerrano (cured ham) and chorizo sausage. The next course was a tomato and tuna salad with red peppers and olive oil. The third course included gambas and langostinas (shrimp and prawns). The fourth was pate, and then the fifth was pulpo (octupus) with potatoes, olive oil and paprika. Then for dessert everyone got a chochlate-covered fig.