Christmas in Spain

After my second whirl-wind tour of Edinburgh and the surrounding countryside, I had 4 days to myself, and then my parents and sister came to celebrate Christmas in Spain. We took a 10-day tour of the country, starting in Salamanca for a few days, then going to Granada, Barcelona, and, finally Madrid.
If you got our Christmas letter (or New Year's letter) this year, then most of this information will just be repeated.
I went and picked my parents up at the airport at any ungodly hour (I had to take the 6am bus...)and brought them back to my room for comida and packing, since they were bringing the suitcase that I was going to use for the next 3 weeks of traveling. I made them a proper Spanish comida with 2 courses and dessert, mostly because I had to use up a whole bunch of perishable food that other people had left me when they moved out. We couldn't eat all of it, so I ended up freezing some rice pudding, which was nice to have when I got back and didn't have any groceries. Then we went to our hotel, which was literally on the Plaza Mayor and went to bed early since we all were pretty tired. The next day, I took everyone around Salamanca and showed them all of the important sights, including churros and chocolate. We also did the cathedral and the Museum of Salamanca History.
The next day we took the train to Madrid and ended up catching a bus to Granada after finding out that there were no more trains to Granada that day. It was ok, though, because the bus ride was very pretty, and we made it to Granada earlier than the train would have. The next morning, we went and took a tour of the Alhambra, which was less exciting than it was last time I was there. We also explored Granada on foot for a little bit. After a good night's sleep, we did some more hard-core exploring and visited the cathedral, which was very white, and the Capilla Real (we got to see where Isabel, Fernando, Juana la Loca, and some other people were buried) with Isabel's painting collection, which was really nice (she was particularily fond of small paintings). That afternoon we went to the Garcia Lorca gardens. Federico Garcia Lorca was a controversial poet and playwright, who was a Franco victim. Granada turned his house and estate into some pretty amazing gardens, although they were under construction when we visited.
Early on Christmas Eve, we flew from Granada to Barcelona. The Federico Garcia Lorca airport is tiny, much smaller than Madison. Our flight left late (we were in Spain...), so we got to Madrid late, and almost missed our connecting flight after an incredibly slow border patrol (they're Spaniards, they have much more important things to do than pay attention to the people in line...). But after that, we made it to Barci, which, even without Gaudí, was an incredible city. Barcelona is in the autonomía of Cataloña, and they speak Catalan there, and I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to understand anyone, but Catalan looks like a mix between French and very phonetic Spanish, and it sounds a whole lot like the Castellano they speak in Salamanca, although the numbers are different. They sounded to me like the French numbers. We explored for a bit that night before going out to dinner at Els Quatre Gats, The Four Cats por inglés, which was a restaurant where Piccasso hung out in his youth. I like to think that it was the Brewed of the turn of the 20th century. The food was amazing, and it was a very fun way to spend Christmas Eve, although it is the first time I can remember not spending Christmas Eve at LUMC. Since everything was closed on Christmas, we spent the day walking around the city. Our hotel was just off of the Rambala, which is the main pedestrian street in Barci, so we started our day with a walk down the Rambala to the Mediterranean. There was a swim meet going on that day, which was a strange concept for Wisconsinites. We eventually wandered into a park that contained the zoo and a geology museum, which was, sadly, also closed. We were very fortunate that it was nice on Christmas, because the next day, it rained the entire day, so we took a tour bus around Barci and visited the Sagrada Familia, which is the famous Gaudí church. We ended the day getting soaked by a rain storm and getting some chocolate.
The next morning we left by high-speed train for Madrid. We visited the Royal Palace, which was amazing. Those royals really have lavish taste. We also saw the Royal String Quartet instruments, which are all Stradivarius and very impressive. Too bad, we couldn't hear them played. The next day, we went to the Prado, which had some amazing art, although there was too much to take in with just one visit. On the way back to our hotel, we went by the Plaza Mayor, where Santos Inocentes celebrations were well underway. Santos Inocentes is the saints day for the babies killed by Herod in the Massacre of the Innocents. In Spain, it is celebrated as a mix between Children's Day and April Fool's Day. All of the newspapers print practical jokes, and there are children's markets with street performers and funny hats and hair (the Spanish really have a thing with wigs) and balloons.
The next day, my parents left for the US, and I left for Bilbao and New Year's in Italy.

Plaza Mayor in Salamanca with Christmas tree.

Windmills in Castilla- La Mancha on the way to Granada

In the Alhambra

More Alhambra

Granada
In the Palace of Carlos V. They have concerts with the Royal String Quartet in the center of this palace.

Cathedral in Granada

In Spain, they have a lot of these figures who are breaking into the house. Here they are the 3 wise men, but sometimes it's Santa climbing up the balcony.

García Lorca gardens




Christmas Eve in Barcelona. Corte Inglés is wishing us Happy Holidays

Dinner at the 4 Gats

Christmas Day. This is a statue of Columbus pointing out to the sea, but he's not pointing to the New World, but rather Africa.

Pretty statue from when the Olympics were in Barci.

People dressed in costumes at the swim meet
People swimming. Outside. On Christmas Day...

A parrot in the gardens in Barci

Pretty fountain

Rocks outside the geology museum. All of the info about them was written in Catalan

Some one I'm assuming is a famous geologist, since his statue is outside the geo museum.


From the Nativity side of the Sagrada Familia


From the Crucifixion side of the Sagrada Familia. Yes, there is a secret code on the wall.

Inside the Sagrada Familia. I decided that Gaudí must have been very fond of calculus becuase of the shapes he used to design his buildings.

A turtle outside the Sagrada Familia. It's holding up a column. Apparently, Gaudí liked to use reptiles and gastropods from the Mediterranean in his architecture.

I don't have any pictures of Madrid or the rest of the trip, since I didn't take any. All of these pictures are from my dad, who's the family photographer.