Having my mom come visit me in Madrid is something that I have been looking forward to for a while now. My mom is of course the person who listened to my neurotic worries the night before I left for Madrid and any complaints I had within the first few days of being here. I quickly got over my nerves and have come to love and feel at home in Madrid, communicating in Spanish more and more easily. I was very excited to show my mom around my favorite spots and give her a taste for what my study abroad experience is like.
Luckily, I have become pretty good at Spanish because many people in Spain don’t speak English well or at all. My mom does not speak a lick of Spanish and is actually rather language-deficient. I got to play the role of #1 translator during her stay in Madrid. I know how much my mom likes structure and organization, so I planned out an itinerary. Some of the highlights included going to synagogue and dinner with the Appels, rowing my mom around at Retiro, seeing the famous works at the Prado, enjoying lunch at Mercado San Miguel, and relaxing at the Hammam Arab bathhouse (see pictures below).
After a great week in Madrid, my mom and I went to San Sebastian for a relaxing weekend getaway. San Sebastian is a city along the coast in the northern part of Spain, very close to France. Although the national language of Spain is Spanish, a special Basque language is spoken in this region. The Basque language was completely different than Spanish and impossible for me to understand. San Sebastian is on the Bay of Biscay and is a precious town. Our hotel looked out at a beach called, La Concha. Listening to the waves at night and watching the sunset from our balcony were truly highlights. The ornate architecture, trees without branches nor leaves, and lush vegetation make its physical appeal unique (see pictures below).
San Sebastian is well known for its food, having more restaurants with Michelin stars than any other city in the world. They have a lot of pinxto (the Basque word for tapas) bars as well as many gourmet multi-course tasting menus (see picture below). Maybe my pallet is not sophisticated enough, but I found much of the food to be too gourmet. There was not a single Mediterranean restaurant and only one Italian one in all of San Sebastian. Most places were seafood restaurants, and I am not a big fan of the fish in Europe.
Our first day we went to a nearby town called Getaria and saw the Balenciaga (a famous Spanish designer) museum and got a tour in a wine vineyard that has been in the same family since the 1600’s. The museum showed off many outrageous designs that were part of Balenciaga’s trend-setting collection. The tour of the vineyard was an authentic experience, and we got to see exactly how the grapes are hand picked and converted into wine (see picture below).
The second day we hiked on the Camino de Santiago, a famous trail that is a religious pilgrimage for many. We hiked from San Sebastian, up a mountain and along the coast all the way to the town of Paisaje San Juan for lunch (about a 3-hr hike). The views were spectacular, and it was extremely rewarding to arrive at such a colorful fishing town. We went to a restaurant on the water for lunch that had great fresh seafood (see picture below).
The last day we woke up early to walk on the beach. The sand is very fine and soft, and there were no rocks on the beach. The water is a gorgeous shade of aqua blue and is very clear. We ate at an outdoor café along the beach called La Concha Café. We then took the funicular up a mountain after lunch for some post-card-worthy views of San Sebastian. It was great to spend time with my mom and travel with her. Now I am on my way back to Madrid to get ready for two days of work and then I am off to the Canary Islands and Barcelona for my spring break!
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