Los Úlitmos Días en Santander

For our last excursion with the “Grupo de Denver,” we went to the Santander Maritime Museum. Unfortunately, this was not exactly the most exciting thing I’ve ever seen. To give you a good idea of the level excitement, the Museum’s most famous attraction is a preserved two-headed sardine. Yeah…

However, we did get an amazing meal afterwards in the museum with a great view of the ocean. Spain does this thing for lunch, or “La Comida,” called “Menú del Día.” It usually ranges from 9-15 euros and comes with bread, wine or water, a first course, a second main course, and a dessert. Here is a shot of the first course (“primer plato”) of warm goat cheese, jamón iberico, sautéed mushrooms, and puff pastry:

After lunch we went on a pirate ship and took a boat ride around the peninsulas. Despite the clouds and the wind, it was actually a pretty good time:

 The next day some of us went to the market here in Santander to get lunch. We ended up getting there right before they were closing which was kind of a bummer, but I did manage to snap a few shots of stands and buy a couple slices of goat cheese. Queso de Cabra seems to be a theme for me here…

Sorry for any vegetarians reading this...kind of gross picture. But basically every market, grocery store, or restaurant in Spain has some form of hanging meat displayed for all to see. I love it!

The last day at the UIMP was pretty exciting. We had “class” for two hours, which consisted of our sweet professor telling us between tears how much she appreciated us and loved us, and then all of us heading downstairs for some café so we could write notes to each other, saying goodbye. It was basically like signing a yearbook but in Spanish. Afterwards we went the auditorium for a big presentation. There were poems, slideshows, dances, Japanese tea ceremonies, karaoke songs (“Me Voy” by Julieta Venegas being my favorite obviously), skits, videos, and many other Spanish songs sung by students and professors. It was quite interesting and definitely different from anything I’ve ever experienced at DU.

My professor Raquel

Then us DU chicas went out for our last lunch together. The calamari bocadillo was a great choice. Simple, fresh, and filling!

Shots of my favorite foods (thus far) that have gone unmentioned:

This is a Principe cookie. I hate disgusting amounts of these (or a knock-off brand) when I came to Spain 2 years ago. So obviously it was one of my first purchases. It's basically a chocolate filling sandwiched between two over-sized Ritz-like crackers. You can buy like 15 of them for a euro. Amazing.

This is how they do coffee in Spain: a couple shots of espresso, a little steamed milk, and a spoonful of sugar. It's quick, it puts a surge of caffeine in your system, and tastes delicious! Also, basically every bar or restaurant has fantastic coffee. You don't have to search for quality espresso.

Never have I ever consumed so much ice cream in a one month period. Regma is this incredible ice cream shop in Cantabria. Everyone eats so much ice cream here, it's ridiculous. This picture is my favorite kind: yogurt ice cream in a chocolate cone. But not just any chocolate cone. The cone is complete covered in chocolate, inside and out.

Adios Santander! You will be missed!

¡Barcelona Tres!

Here are some more masterpieces that Gaudí designed in the city. When we asked our DU professor in class how much it would cost to live in one of these babies, she replied, "Millones y millones." The hostel had to suffice.

Casa Batlló

Casa Mila

Gaudí-inspired tiles that dot the sidewalks of all the main sidewalks

After we ate a big lunch, we walked down Las Ramblas, the famous street in Barcelona that's covered in a canopy of trees and lined with all kinds of stands and shops:

Succulents!!!

One of my favorite stops of the day was the market:

We walked around a bit more, ventured into a few weird shops to bargain for Barcelona F.C. jerseys, and did a little shopping. 

We stopped for a few photos by the cathedral:

  Then, with throbbing feet and sweat-soaked, dehydrated bodies, we trudged back to the hostel to relax and shower before heading out to dinner for some yummy seafood tapas!

Other sites:

F.C. Barcelona Stadium

SUCH an amazing trip!

To Sevilla!

And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘The LORD.’

Exodus 33:14-19

¡Barcelona Dos!

Here’s a shot inside this adorable bakery, Lolita, which we found on our first night (I meant to include this in the last post):

In order to not waste a second of our precious time in Barcelona, we headed out of the hostel, full and caffeinated from our free breakfast, at 8:15am. We were all very impressed with ourselves.

First was the Sagrada Familia. The line for this main attraction in Barcelona was unbelievably long but moved pretty fast. The Sagrada Familia is a huge cathedral that was designed by Antonio Gaudí, a proud architect from Cataluña. His designs were so specific and detailed that workers are constantly adding on his designs to the cathedral today, more than 80 years after his death. Ever since I went to the National Cathedral in D.C. when I was in 8^th grade, I’ve been fascinated by cathedrals. So when I went the Catedral deToledo a few summers ago, my interest was sparked once again (might have teared up). Since then I’ve been so lucky to visit Notre Dame, Chartres, and many other less-famous cathedrals here in the northern part of Spain. Although I’m always amazed as I walk into each, most of the cathedrals in Europe look pretty similar. But not the Sagrada Familia. Gaudí was an absolute genius. He spent most of his childhood in the country, surrounded by nature, and so many of his designs are influenced by tree roots, flowers, pods, leaves, branches, etc. It’s kind of hard to tell by just looking at the building because it’s so overwhelmingly detailed. Luckily there were little signs and models of how he developed his designs. I seriously could have spent ALL day in there! I took tons of pictures but I really don’t feel like they do Gaudí justice:

We had the option of taking an elevator to the top of the cathedral to get a better view of some of the designs as well as the city. It was only 3 euros more with our student discount (go UIMP!) so we had to! Worth every penny:

Next was more Gaudí up on the hill at Parque Guell. This huge park is filled with winding benches, mosaic lizards and houses, and tons of other things that we didn’t have time to see. Like I said, the place is huge. It would literally take you all day to see all of it and we were pretty exhausted from the heat by the time we left.

For some reason this stupid thing won't let me re-size some of the pictures so they're kinda tiny.

More to come!!!