Goodbye Madrid, hello Galicia

 22 September, 2021

Starting a new chapter in Spain, I am moving from Madrid to the northwestern corner of Spain, the province of Galicia. I have never visited Galicia, but it is said to be cool, rainy, green, and share Celtic ancestry with Great Britain. After two years in the heat of Madrid I am more than ready for this change. 

On the train at last. Buh-bye Madrid!

Leaving from Chamartin Station I got a superb view of the iconic "Four Towers" of Madrid.

My first glimpses of Galicia were in the mountains, lushly forested and beautiful, but there were so many tunnels that every time I'd get my camera ready we would suddenly be in darkness, so I gave up taking pictures and just looked out the window.

Here we are nearly to my destination: Vigo, Spain. There are many big rivers emptying to the sea in this region, making for a really pretty outlying area. 

 

I arrived safely in Vigo and found my way to my AirBnB. Then I headed out to a cafe to meet my new head teacher, we chatted for about an hour. She seems very nice, it's amazing to me that she has taken the time to come all the way here just to meet me (she lives in a different town and is extremely busy with work).

As we were sitting in the cafe, it became overcast. On the way back to the AirBnB, which is just a couple of blocks, suddenly it started absolutely pouring rain! I didn't have an umbrella with me, so I took refuge in another cafe nearby. I was sitting near the door and the rain and wind were so strong that I was actually being misted with rain while sitting INSIDE. Talk about a sudden weather change!

15 minutes later the rain had died down and I hurried back to the AirBnB lest I get caught in another downpour.

Complutum Roman City Archaeological Site, Alcalá de Henares

 01 July 2021

Today I went on a day trip with a friend and colleague to see a Roman archaeological site just outside of Alcalá de Henares, where I went to university last year. It was once a prosperous city called Complutum and is now partially covered by the modern city; fortunately, the part on the outskirts of town was excavated and preserved.

It was free to visit and provided quite good signage explaining the various parts of the city. Some of the signage was designed for kids and looked like it accompanied a special tour for schoolchildren on field trips.

Arriving back in town after a rather long walk, this is the Puerta de Alcala or old city gate.

I was surprised and tickled to see Mike from "Monsters, Inc" on a balcony.

Wall mural in homage to "Don Quixote" by author Miguel Cervantes, a local celebrity after his death.

We had lunch at Las Huellas vegan restaurant, one of my favorites. We ordered burgers but they offer many different things on the menu. Sadly, there was no lemonade today.

On the way back to the train station, I noticed this window with its original wooden blinds.

I do like Alcalá de Henares. It was nice to visit my old haunt again.

Madrid wanderings

 02 January 2021

Met up with a friend to hang out in Madrid today. The streets are mostly deserted until mid afternoon, as it's the norm here to stay up late and get up late. We had the streets mostly to ourselves until around 3:30pm, when we decided to call it a day and head home as it began to feel too crowded.

We started at Plaza del Sol, popping in at a favorite ecotienda or natural food shop, where I found what I believe to be US style cornmeal. Until now, I had only seen polenta, which is a much coarser grind, and corn flour, which is a much finer grind. Beans and cornbread, here I come!

We then decided to have brunch at Federal Café, a casual restaurant which serves full breakfast fare, including pancakes and a number of egg dishes. A typical breakfast in Spain is coffee with toast, so breakfast/brunch places tend to be popular with the expat crowd. I was hungry and didn't remember to take a photo of my plate, sorry not sorry!

Here are some sights from along the way. As those of you who have been following my blog are probably aware, I love architectural details, especially doors and manhole covers. This one, found right by the Noviciado metro station entrance, says "GAS". 

This building is currently in use as a Presbyterian church, but what fabulous Moorish style brickwork! As you can see from this photo, we had some sunshine in the morning. The difference between sun and shade feels quite stark in winter. Temperatures are dropping below freezing at night and not warming up all that much during the day, especially if there is any wind at all, so it was so nice to feel the warmth of the sun.

We passed by this bakery called "Resposteria Perruana" and we were remarking on how cute and colorfully iced the Christmas cookies were... and then I realized the whole shop is actually dog biscuits! Just goes to show that there is a market for anything.

We decided to walk there without using Google Maps, so we just followed any street that looked interesting, like this one.

At the other end of the alley was this building with great Art Deco style brickwork.

After brunch, we decided to wander around some more without a fixed destination. This facade of a (shop? restaurant? church?) is done in hand painted ceramic tiles, old and dirty but you can still see how fine they are. I hope someday they will be cleaned and restored, what a beauty.

Here is a closer view:

Another architectural feature that I saw several of today is the wooden mini facade installed directly into the portico of a stone block building. The restaurant goes back to 1983, but I suspect the woodwork is much older. Unfortunately, this photo came out very dark and does not do the details justice.

This is a closeup of the too-dark doorway on the right hand side in the above shot. Here you can see the stained glass window and the wonderful wooden carving.

There are some really cute and creative gingerbread dioramas in some of the bakeries.

This one even has a gingerbread train and railroad tracks, so cute!

This new sweet shop near Chueca called chök is tiny but exquisite.

They had a selecion of artesanal chocolate bars, candies, and truffles, including several vegan options.

They also had a fantastic array of beautifully decorated doughnuts, cupcakes, and individual size cakes, also with some vegan choices.

At Chueca, barely visible behind the station in the below photo, is a new vegan grocery store called Only Vegan. I didn't take a photo, but we went inside and their selection of vegan "meats" and "seafood" was the best I have seen here so far.

 

 

And from there, we popped into the metro and went home. A decent day of wandering, in my opinion.

Nochevieja (New Year's Eve)

 31 December 2020

This year I was invited to spend New Year's Eve with the family of my flatmates, just a few blocks away. I didn't take many photos as it was a family gathering. I have spent all of the holidays with them due to quarantine here in Madrid; gatherings are limited to 6 people and the holiday curfew is at 1:30AM. It was really kind of them to invite me; back in the US, I would probably spend New Year's Eve in bed, wake up for a few minutes at midnight, then go back to sleep when the noise died down.

People usually dress up for New Year's Eve here, so I dressed up too. It was the first time I've worn a dress since summer; this is actually a summer dress to which I added a black jacket and wool stockings, as I only brought two dresses with me.

At all of the holidays, at least in this particular family, there is a huge amount of eating and drinking. We had typical Spanish appetizers of charcuterie, cheese, and pate. Once those were mostly eaten, out came prawns, cooked in a savory broth and then served cold, peel-and-eat style. Following that was another course of prawns, this time "a la plancha" (grilled), almejas (clams) cooked in the shells in garlic and butter, and "tigres" (Spanish style stuffed mussels). We finish eating all that, and there is yet another course, the "pulpo" or grilled octopus, plated in bite sized morsels on top of bits of potato. By this time I'm so stuffed I can hardly eat. But there is more! A seafood soup with fideo noodles, which included mussels, clams, and fish. This woman is an amazing cook - I am not accustomed to eating seafood and am not usually very fond of it, but everything was absolutely delicious.

Here in Spain, there is a tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one with each stroke of the clock. By the stroke of midnight, you end up with all 12 grapes stuffed in your mouth while frantically trying to chew. (If I am still in Spain next year, I have GOT to videorecord this.)

All the main TV channels have pre-midnight shows the hour prior with celebs in elegant clothing chatting and musical acts. The TV shows helpfully show a "grape counter" at midnight, counting off the grapes with each chime.

 Last year, the grapes I was given were enormous and had seeds. This year, the grapes were smaller (what I would consider normal sized in the US), and we all cheated and took the seeds out while we were waiting for midnight to arrive. It made it much easier to keep up with the chimes, but still ended up with quite a mouth full. 🍇

After midnight, the location of the apartment was such that we could see various fireworks displays happening around Madrid, some of them were really spectacular. One of the 3 doggies present was terribly scared, which was sad. Even an hour and a half later heading home, there were still fireworks happening in the neighborhood.

It was a lovely evening and I was happy to be in bed (even though I had to sit up for a while due to my overly full stomach).

Feliz Año Nuevo!

Last Full Moon of 2020

30 December 2020

This afternoon I decided to check out the food court at the nearby Madrid Sur shopping mall before doing my grocery shopping, because going to a huge supermarket when I'm hungry never ends well for me. In the mall are the usual types of fast food: KFC, McDonald's, Don Tortilla, and this bar/restaurant, Casa Garcia, which despite the mall furniture, serves up a bocadillo (baguette sandwich) to rival any I've had here so far. 

 Here in Spain, most bars will bring you a complimentary tapa (small appetizer) when you order a beverage. This can vary widely depending on the bar/restaurant, from a handful of potato chips or tiny slice of stale bread and cheese, to a whole serving of paella. This was one of the better ones, as they brought me a whole dish of really good mixed olives, which was a pleasant surprise given I was sitting on a plastic chair in a shopping mall just a few meters across from the McDonald's. 

This sandwich was hot, fresh, and flavorful, definitely in the top five bocadillos I have had here in Spain. Nom!!!

On to the supermarket... The liquor on the lift, Crema Catalana, is supposed to resemble the flavor of a particular dessert which looks to be a kind of creme brulee based on the picture I saw. Which, for some reason, when mixed with milk, makes it taste exactly like eggnog. No more faffing about with eggs and blenders for me, thank you very much!

While walking home, I got a glimpse of the full moon rising behind the buildings. This photo makes it look like I don't live in a concrete jungle, but the buildings vastly outnumber the trees.

I am really pleased with this because I like the way the moon and the globe lamp in the foreground are in harmony. Good job, little phone! (Motorola Moto G8 for those who might be curious.)

Parque de las Siete Tetas

 28 December 2020

There is a park here in Madrid which is named Parque del Cerro del Tio Pio (Uncle Pio's Hill Park), but which the locals refer to as Parque de las Siete Tetas (Park of the Seven Titties) because it has seven little hills clustered together. As far as parks go, it's not very remarkable in terms of landscaping or anything, but it does boast one of the best views of the city. It's also just a 15 minute walk from my apartment, but I didn't realize it until today.

So here are some views of Madrid as seen from my neighborhood (Vallecas). 

 

What's a public park without a piece of mysterious modern art? (Perhaps I should take up welding, this thing probably cost the city a small fortune.)
 

It was chilly, around 46 degrees F / 8 degrees C, and so windy at the top of the hill that it was hard to hold the phone steady to take photos. 

 

 

 The TV tower in the below photos is called the Torrespaña. I can see it from my bus stop in the mornings and it's one of my favorite sights because it looks different every day depending on the various weather and light conditions. The four skyscrapers behind it are the tallest in Madrid and can be seen even from the mountains in the distance.

 

I really like the panoramic photo feature on my new phone (Motorola Moto G8, I got it in August but there is already a newer model).

I look forward to a day clear enough to see the mountains in the distance, especially now that there is snow on them.