Spain

Cadiz & Madrid, Spain: September 5-8, 2009

As our first country along this journey there were many important discoveries to be made and experiences to be had in Spain. Between language barriers, a lack of parental guidance, spotty/unreliable/non-existent communication, transportation struggles, eating in a foreign country and cultural differences, there was not a dull moment in Spain. In many ways, a Western, developed country, where many people from the ship could communicate at least at an elementary level, and the water was safe, was an excellent place to start, a “warm-up” of sorts. I ran into few problems using my rusty conversational Spanish with the people we encountered, was confident in my pronunciation of vegetarian-related vocabulary, and with the food I received at those meals, I never felt unsafe or unwelcome; I was able to experience Spain in a succinct, but enjoyable way.

As we approached Spain, I was so incredibly excited. I woke up every few hours the night before port. However, around 7:00AM as I looked out the window I saw something for the first time during SAS, something besides a vast expanse of ocean, lights and LAND! I immediately woke Casey up and we went outside to watch the ship be guided into port by a pilot boat, and finally dock in light of the Spanish sunrise.

Upon our arrival in Spain, Casey and I, along with two friends from USD Stephen and Bryce who were traveling to Madrid to visit their girlfriends, retrieved our passports and immediately disembarked. We walked around Cádiz for a few hours, and took lots and lots of pictures. Then we took a cab to the airport in Jerez de la Frontera. We were lucky to get on an earlier flight, which was more difficult than you would expect given the language barriers. Then we had Spanish sandwiches in the airport and boarded our hour-long flight to Madrid. Upon arrival we were met at the airport by two of our Theta friends. After a brief visit to the house of the señora who they are staying with, Johanna, Casey and I took the Metro to our hotel on Gran Vía in El Centro of Madrid. We checked in, browsed the stores along Gran Vía, and wandered into the most perfect plaza with a café at one end. We sat among locals, watched the passersby and traffic go by, and enjoyed sangria and, of all things, pizza! After a wonderful dinner we returned to our hotel, got dressed and met a group of friends at an Irish pub that was playing the Réal Madrid vs. Belgium fútbol game. Altogether, there were 18 of us (nine Theta’s!!) at the pub. As the game came to an end more and more Americans had arrived, friends of our friends studying abroad in Madrid. We walked past Plaza de Sol to a club named Joy, that has been open every day for the last 23 years. The music was great, including some American songs, and the entire club was packed, we guessed 800 people, but maybe more. The dancing was only stopped to allow the house Flamenco group to perform multiple times throughout the evening. When Casey and I finally left the club, the clock was just striking 5:00AM. Ringing in our long and eventful day at 23 hours!

The next morning, after a slightly later start than we had planned, we made up for lost time and ended up seeing a great deal of Madrid’s esteemed parks, churches, and plazas. We started at our hotel on Gran Vía and walked east to view the Palacio de Communicaciones. From there we walked through the Paseo de Prado, a large park filled with beautiful fountains, and sculptures. Then we passed the Prado museum, but had too little time to go inside. Next, we visited the grand and expansive Parque del Retiro (Retiro Park). During the 17th century this was the property of the royal palace of Felipe IV, of which only two buildings and the French-style gardens remain. Of the parks 330 acres, we were only able to see a small piece, and while we were tempted by the paddle boats in the large goldfish pond overlooked by the Monumento de Alfonso XII, but moved along in the essence of time. I was able to enjoy delicious horchata granizada a drink made from the milk of tigernuts slushy-style. From there we visited the beautiful Jardines Botánicos, built in 1781, and restored in the 1980s to the original plans. My favorite part of the botanical gardens was the greenhouse, with a room each for desert and tropical rainforest biomes. We even saw carnivorous plants and a starfruit tree!

From there we wandered into Santa Ana and found a plethora of cafes in Plaza Santa Ana. We chose a modern restaurant named with typical Spanish fare, in a prime people-watching location. For lunch I had tortilla española, a simple egg and potato omelette-type dish, and gazpacho. With a little food in us, Casey and I walked through Santa Ana to the Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor is an large paved plaza surrounded by buildings dating back to 1590, but most have been significantly restored after fires in the 17th and 18th centuries. We then navigated the labyrinth of streets to the Palacio Real and adjacent Catedral de la Almudena, where we snapped photos and enjoyed Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” played by a Spanish violinist who I had to tip for playing one of my favorite songs! We wandered through the Plaza de Oriente and neighboring gardens complete with statues of the Spanish rulers throughout time. On our way back to our hotel we wandered in and out of shops along Calle del Arenal, passing by Joy Madrid from the previous night. As a gummy fanatic I was thrilled to find a Haribo store, where gummy bear are just the beginning. I filled a bag full of candy and was already enjoying it on our walk back before I realized the possibility of not being allowed to bring my treasures back onto the boat!

That evening we met our friends Chelsea and Johanna who are studying in Madrid, along with Stephen, Chelsea’s boyfriend who is on Semester at Sea with us, for dinner in Sol. We had paella, tortilla española and even tasted pimientos de pardon (sautéed and salted chili peppers, from Padron, Spain) from a neighboring table that was intrigued with our introduction to Spanish food. As we said goodbye to our friends, we ran through the variety of options for our evening. We decided to go back to Gran Vía and enjoyed a pitcher of sangria at a table on Gran Vía at Café Zahara, a block from our hotel.

The next morning we focused on light shopping in Chueca, the renowned gay-district across Gran Vía from our hotel, after a light breakfast at… Starbucks! Our luckiest find of the shopping trip was the surprising Casa Postal. While we had expected to find an array of post cards, we were not expecting them to be antiques from the 20s and beyond. The entire store had walls of filing cabinets filled to the brim with postcards organized by attraction. Some had messages scrawled on the back, and some did not. Casey and I perused stacks of postcards depicting El Retiro and the Palacio Real, and purchased a few. On our way back to our hotel, we purchased postcards for mailing home and ran into two boys from USD, one studying abroad in Madrid and another of our friends from Semester at Sea! It was such a funny coincidence, but it was nice to run into them, as communicating and coordinating proved much more difficult without the e-mails, text messages and Facebook communications that we are so accustomed to.

After retrieving our bags from our hotel, we boarded the Metro, and navigated through three different transfers to arrive at the airport. While trying to check in for our flight, we were told that our reservation had been cancelled. What had been such a fortunate change in our reservations en route to Madrid, had actually confused the computer system, and since it thought we never got to Madrid, it didn’t expect us to want to fly back to Jerez de la Frontera from Madrid. Luckily the ticket agent was very helpful and we were able to get back onto our flight. Another very interesting part of the airport was the security lines, very inefficient and much more touch-intensive than security in the US. We grabbed simple sandwiches of mini-baguettes and Manchego cheese in the airport and waited to board our plane. After returning to Jerez de la Frontera, we were confronted with the problem of how to get back to the boat. On the way to the airport, four of us split the €61, making it more reasonable. We were told there was no bus directly to Cádiz until 7:00, and waiting around in the hot & windy weather was not too appealing. We were able to take a bus to the transit center and then the train to Cádiz.

After returning to Cádiz we showered and met up with friends from the boat. We then went out to eat, late, of course, as the Spanish are accustomed to having dinner around 9:00 or 10:00PM. At the restaurant we enjoyed delicious sandwiches and potato dishes, OK they were French fries, but that wasn’t what I thought I was ordering! We enjoyed great food and drinks in a plaza that is as busy by night as it was by day, we even saw one of our professors and his wife! Then we went to meet more SAS people at a bar in Nuevo Cádiz. Casey and I came home relatively early, but still had a great time dancing and socializing.

The next morning, our final day in port, I went on an FDP (faculty directed practicum, aka. field trip) to a wind and a solar farm near Cádiz. We were given a very in-depth and behind the scenes tour, as well as amazing photo opportunities. One of Al Gore’s close contributors for An Inconvenient Truth was our guide and spoke at length about many of the topics I am so interested in. I learned a lot about Spain’s efforts to generate alternative energy sources, and that they are third in the world for efforts of this type.It was a long day, and I wanted to get back to Cádiz to do some last minute shoe shopping, but the group stopped for lunch. Although we were off schedule, the restaurant was very good. Casey and I both enjoyed delicious gazpacho and Manchego cheese sandwiches on fresh flakey baguettes.

Upon our return to Cádiz, a friend from on the boat accompanied me on a whirlwind attempt to purchase some emergency shoes. After great consideration about packing, particularly in regards to shoes, each pair I brought to Madrid had given me a separate set of blisters. The evening before, as we walked to get gelato, I spotted out shoe stores to go to. However, the delayed return of our field trip meant that most businesses were closed for siesta, the midday nationwide nap. I was able to purchase a pair of flats and a pair of sandals, but the trip was high stress. I have never power walked so fast, but with the threat of dock time motivating me to get back to the ship on time, I had no problem nearly running. 

As I watched the ship set sail last night, I realized the brevity of each visit, and the key point of making every minute count with the people surrounding you. Today we were anchored in the Strait of Gibraltar, where we could see Morocco in the distance, Spain on one side and Gibraltar (a British holding) on the other. We were anchored in order to refuel, and that process took hours. We made the most of it at lunch, making friends with the good-looking, and shirtless Spanish man who was driving the pilot boat monitoring the exchange of fuel between the ships. After waving and blowing kisses, he retreated into the cabin of the boat, only to return with BINOCULARS! He accompanied this viewing with a thumbs-up sign, which is a quite universal sign. He was even nice enough to invite us back to shore with him. Unfortunately, we had to decline. The afternoon was filled with sunbathing and the first (relatively) stationary run on the treadmill. The morning and evening were filled with educational information regarding Morocco.

We will port in Morocco tomorrow morning. Along with a few of my friends and perhaps 35 total SAS participants, I will be taking a guided tour around Casablanca tomorrow, including a visit to the Hassan II mosque (the third biggest mosque and the tallest religious building in the world). We will be the first group to disembark, as the timing of our Mosque tour is crucial during this time of Ramadan, when visitor hours are abbreviated. We will not be traveling outside of Casablanca, and will be staying on the ship each night. During our pre-port logistical briefing, we were told the port risk is a level two, which translates to high. There is some concern for safety of the boat, and I have my own personal reservations about personal safety in Morocco. I will be dressing conservatively and traveling lightly, but focusing on immersion and having as good of a time as possible.

Stephanie@Sea