Wow!! I can’t believe another 10 days have passed since I last posted, and I feel like I need to catch up on posting all that has happened(since every day seems filled with so much)!! So… after a lovely week with Sheryl in northern Spain, visiting San Sebastian/Donostia and Santiago de Compostela, I am now at my first English immersion program (1of 3 that I have scheduled for this trip)!!
After experiencing the language and culture of Catalan in Barcelona, it was fascinating to visit northern Spain and experience Basque country (in the northeast) and Galicia (in the northwest) of Spain. All of these areas have their own language (in addition to “traditional” Castilian Spanish), as well as varied cultural histories that influence how they experience and interpret the world! I could really feel the difference in each sub-culture and they are each proud of their heritage!
We did a bit of sightseeing in Donostia-San Sebastián (Donostia being the Basque name and San Sebastián being the Castilian name), drove along the north coast of Spain with beautiful, green landscape and mountains in the background, and enjoyed some incredible local food!
We didn’t do much sightseeing in Santiago de Compostela because it was POURING down rain, but I willingly got soaked and trudged through the pouring rain from one side of town to the other to go to La Pepita Burger Bar for another amazing burger!!
Some people do the Camino de Santiago for spiritual reasons, ending up in Santiago de Compostela… But I have decided I might have to make a pilgrimage to that Burger bar so I can experience their amazing burgers every year! I’m sure it’s just as much about the energy of the town and the warmth of the people that I have fallen in love with (versus the burgers), but it is truly a special place (even in the pouring down rain…Yikes)!!
We mostly relaxed a bit and prepared for the next steps in our Journeys (and tried to dry out after our crazy foray into the rain), but it was a lovely time to finish up our Journey together! After a crazy morning at the airport (dropping Sheryl off at the Santiago airport at the crack of dawn, then driving around in the pitch dark and torrential rain!!), I caught a flight to Madrid and met up with my friend Durdaana who will be traveling with me over the next six weeks!!
We enjoyed a lovely few days in Madrid, doing a bit of sightseeing (on the “hop on hop off” bus... my new favorite method of seeing a large city)! We sat in a LOT of cafés and enjoyed various treats around the city (cafe con leche, sangria, and my favorite-of course- hot chocolate and churros)!! We even observed a political protest in the Reina Sophia Square just outside our hotel room, so we sat watching and listening to see if we could decipher what they were saying in Spanish!!
After a few lovely days in the center of Madrid, we shifted to a new hotel, enjoyed Tapas with the other volunteers who are participating in the English immersion programs this week, and headed out on Sunday morning to our hotel here in Avila. (I’ve included a few pictures of Avila from last year since it was quite foggy this year and the views were amazing on that sunny day last year)!!
We will be here at the beautiful hotel near Avila, then back to Madrid for a couple nights to recuperate from this fun, but intense week of chatting (and maybe see a few sights), then off to a new location for another week of English immersion!! It is such a treat to enjoy wonderful conversations with the Spaniards and get to know so many people! As always, I am absolutely LOVING all the interesting conversations and learning more and more about their culture each day!!
Sending lots of love and hugs to all of you!!
After experiencing the language and culture of Catalan in Barcelona, it was fascinating to visit northern Spain and experience Basque country (in the northeast) and Galicia (in the northwest) of Spain. All of these areas have their own language (in addition to “traditional” Castilian Spanish), as well as varied cultural histories that influence how they experience and interpret the world! I could really feel the difference in each sub-culture and they are each proud of their heritage!
We did a bit of sightseeing in Donostia-San Sebastián (Donostia being the Basque name and San Sebastián being the Castilian name), drove along the north coast of Spain with beautiful, green landscape and mountains in the background, and enjoyed some incredible local food!
We didn’t do much sightseeing in Santiago de Compostela because it was POURING down rain, but I willingly got soaked and trudged through the pouring rain from one side of town to the other to go to La Pepita Burger Bar for another amazing burger!!
Some people do the Camino de Santiago for spiritual reasons, ending up in Santiago de Compostela… But I have decided I might have to make a pilgrimage to that Burger bar so I can experience their amazing burgers every year! I’m sure it’s just as much about the energy of the town and the warmth of the people that I have fallen in love with (versus the burgers), but it is truly a special place (even in the pouring down rain…Yikes)!!
We mostly relaxed a bit and prepared for the next steps in our Journeys (and tried to dry out after our crazy foray into the rain), but it was a lovely time to finish up our Journey together! After a crazy morning at the airport (dropping Sheryl off at the Santiago airport at the crack of dawn, then driving around in the pitch dark and torrential rain!!), I caught a flight to Madrid and met up with my friend Durdaana who will be traveling with me over the next six weeks!!
We enjoyed a lovely few days in Madrid, doing a bit of sightseeing (on the “hop on hop off” bus... my new favorite method of seeing a large city)! We sat in a LOT of cafés and enjoyed various treats around the city (cafe con leche, sangria, and my favorite-of course- hot chocolate and churros)!! We even observed a political protest in the Reina Sophia Square just outside our hotel room, so we sat watching and listening to see if we could decipher what they were saying in Spanish!!
After a few lovely days in the center of Madrid, we shifted to a new hotel, enjoyed Tapas with the other volunteers who are participating in the English immersion programs this week, and headed out on Sunday morning to our hotel here in Avila. (I’ve included a few pictures of Avila from last year since it was quite foggy this year and the views were amazing on that sunny day last year)!!
We will be here at the beautiful hotel near Avila, then back to Madrid for a couple nights to recuperate from this fun, but intense week of chatting (and maybe see a few sights), then off to a new location for another week of English immersion!! It is such a treat to enjoy wonderful conversations with the Spaniards and get to know so many people! As always, I am absolutely LOVING all the interesting conversations and learning more and more about their culture each day!!
Sending lots of love and hugs to all of you!!
Comments
Post a Comment