Aranjuez: Visiting one of the Royal Palaces and Gardens

A friend and I decided to take the "tren de la fresa" which is the Strawberry Train! It was such a cute experience, we took an old train from the 1800s about an hour and a half outside of Madrid to one of the spring palaces of the Spanish. We were entertained by people dresses in 1800s style clothing, they gave us strawberries from Aranjuez, we got a tour of the Palace and got to go to 3 museums. It was a wonderful day to spend in the spring Spain sun, and the flowers which you can see below are nothing compared to how beautiful they are in real life! 

Flores. 

Me in front of one of the fountains in the Palace Gardens.

Have you ever seen hydrangeas like this before? Unbelieveable....they were gorgeous. 

The facade of the Palace, Spanish flag atop it. 

Me in one of the rose gardens in the jardines de Aranjuez. 

Believe it or not, this floats!! I saw a rare collection of Royal Boats used for leisure in the parks and down the river...this one is caked in gold and is super ornate used by the king late 1700s. 

Local kayakers underneath a bridge leading to the gardens. 

This is me posing in front of the train, it was so old and filled with families and kids...such fun. 

Two of the ladies dressed up that handed out strawberries and gave a great performance. 

One of my strawberries! Aranjuez is known as the "Plant City, FL" of Spain for its strawberries.

Inside the old train. It was super cute because leaving and entering the station, everyone outside the train for several miles kept waving and smiling as the train passed. It only rains once every Saturday during the Spring so to have rode on it my last Saturday here was lucky. 

Some highlights in Madrid from the end of the Semester

Some of my favorite recent Madrid moments. I get too sad talking about leaving Spain so I'll post soon after I leave my reflections on everything. 

Small series of pictures with me and my friends riding burros (donkeys) in the campo (countryside) about an hour north of Madrid. Group shot below. 

Me on my old donkey...the "White Knight" of the group. Blonde like me, hahaha. 

Some of the countryside views of Spain while we were riding...

My friend Ana and I warming up by the cookpot after our long ride. It was in the Sierra (basically snow capped mountains) so we froze! 

Country potatoes from the kitchen of the woman who ran the farm. Don't worry Granny yours are still my favorite!!!! 

Me at the Real Madrid futbol (soccer) game...tickets are expensive but you can't NOT go to Spain and not go here...it is so much fun!!! I'm wearing my Real Madrid scarf as the game let out after the Real Madrid victory against Getafe. 

At Retiro over a little brook where there is a huge bridge connecting to the rose gardens. 

In the middle of the Parque de Buen Retiro where icecream never tasted better and kids never looked cuter....everyone just enjoys their days here in the sun or in their boat or playing with their families. One of my favorite places to spend time in Madrid. 

Looking up at one of Spain's biggest monuments, which is actually a post office. Haha. 

Outside the Prado Museum, the pride of Spain and where I have spent countless quality hours. For art class we actually go here to look and study the art for each class. So cool. 

At the final dinner/dance together with our Art Professor, Jesus. 

Me and Alejandra, my flamenco professor. She is a professional dancer from Mexico and is truly beautiful to watch dance, and her boyfriend is one of the most famous in Spain. 

Main train station, Atocha. I use it all the time and it's like our Grand Central or Union Station.

The view outside my window...there are only 4 skyscrapers in Madrid and they are about a two minute walk from my apartment. I call them "mi estrella norte" (my north star). 

Finalized Travel Schedule

January 24th: Escorial, Spain

January 25th: Toledo, Spain

January 31st-February 1st: Cordoba, Spain

February 6th-8th: Lisboa, Portugal

February 14th: Segovia, Spain

February 20th-February 22nd: Barcelona, Spain

February 26th-March 1st: Amsterdam

March 6th-8th: Milan, Italy

March 19th-March 22nd: London, England

March 27th-March 29th: Galicia, Spain

**April 3rd- April 13th: Semana Santa (Saint Week)**

Friday April 3 to Tuesday April 7th: Paris

Tuesday, April 7th to Thursday, April 9th: Florence, Pisa, Tuscany 

Thursday April 9th to Monday April 13th: Rome

 

April 16th-April 19th: Palma Mallorca, Spain 

 April 23rd- April 26th: Casablanca and Rabat, Morocco (North Africa)

 April 27th-May 14^th: Madrid and surrounding towns (Aranjuez, Spain on May 9th and Avila, Spain on May 11th)

 May 15^th-May 17^th: Granada, Spain

**May 19^th-26^th: Eastern Europe!**

May 19th: Layover in Brussels, seeing about the town for the day

May 19^th-21^st: Budapest, Hungary

May 21^st-24^th: Vienna, Austria and Bratislava, Slovakia

May 24^th-May 26^th: Prague, Czech Republic

 

May 27^th: Back to Washington, DC!!! 

Morocco: Adventures through North Africa

Morocco is really hard to compare to any place I've ever been. It's a Muslim and African country, so although I tried to make comparisons with the other Muslim country I'd been to (Dubai in the UAE), it was too distinct to really make any concrete ties between the nations. The country is en route to developing itself (ie building escalators in some of its nicest train stations), and yet has a ton of pollution both in the air and generally on the ground, like near the ocean. Also, the stray cats trying to jump into your lap when eating don't help feed a "clean" signal throughout the city. 

I stayed in Casablanca but traveled to Rabat for the day on Saturday where we spent a lot of time in the Souk (open marketplace) which was unreal...there were moments when I stood in shops of fine leather and moments where fish blood pooled around my feet from butchers chopping near me and guts flying all around. All around, the Dirham is extremely cheap, so I got some great gifts and an exquisite leather bag for less than 10 euro. Taxis nearly kill you and 100 pedestrians every moment, but you live through them and its their job to drive agressively. I wouldn't say it was one of my favorite trips, but it opened my eyes a lot to experience the distinct culture of Morocco. 

This is a mom playing with her baby boy at a fountain in the center of Rabat (the capitol).

Inside the souks, I got my leather bag right near here...this was a big rug district of the market.

Our last night in Morocco we ate at this gourmet Casablancan restaurant...it was great (and still cheap)! 1 dirham=8.5 dollars or 1 dirham=11.6 euro.

Inside the same restaurant. The tilework all throughout the country can take your breath away.

Inside the Casbah...I'm still not entirely sure what a Casbah is, but it's an area that houses over 3,000 people even today and is guarded by a castle like wall right near the ocean. 

On the edge of the Casbah near the ocean! 

All the Casbah's walls have the blue edge around them, and have beautiful ornate doors, along with potted flowers bordering the walkways. 

Some typical Moorish doors....

Near the entrance to the market. They sell everything from lemons to turtles to doorknobs. 

This is the second biggest mosque in the world. I took this picture from inside the archway of one of the bordering walls...as you can see, made in the typical Arab inspired architecture. 

A friend, Susanna, and I on the beach part near the Mosque...quite the hangout in Casablanca. 

Near one of the fountains. I hate to be repetitive but check out this tile work!!!! Amazing!!!! 

Border of the Mosque, loved these arcs tremendously....it's cool to see these arcs in Spain and realize the ancient Muslim influence that dates back from this same time. 

View of the Mosque from a little afar, it's located right on the beach as you can see! 

Driving through Palma Mallorca in a Fiat Panda

To describe Palma Mallorca is impossible. All I have to say is make it there at least once in your life because it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen. They also have phenomenal sweets (ensaimada's are their specialty), the beach and the mountains, and sweet natives that were left largely untouched by the Franco generation. I would suggest renting a car like we did- even if it doesn't have a reverse and you have to push it half the way like ours! 

This is a (I think) gothic church in Palma re-done by Gaudí in the 1900s. The outer facade is surrounded by tons of fountains, swans, sculptures, and the ocean. This is where the Royal family of Spain was on Easter, and also this is the island where they summer. 

We made our adventure to this private beach where some of the caves are (in the land part to the right of the picture....we had to surround the water to walk on the rocks around to the cuevas). 

Climbed to the top of this little guy....Palma Mallorca's best kept secret. 

This is hail on the ground! The entire ground was completely covered with hail, which was hitting our little "engine that could" fiat for a solid 30 minutes. Jarrad drove about 10 kilometers per hour on the 90 degree turning roads atop the mountain. Pretty scary, but incredible to experience that kind of storm. 

Jarrad was constantly stopping the car to take pictures! Hard to view in this picture but the roads were super windy...
To the left of me in this picture is a small castle-like light house, to which I climbed to the top on a rickety old ladder. It was "preciosa" to see the buenavista from the top while we stopped the car on a mountain road. 
At this overlook, there was nothing you could see but miles and miles of the Mediterranean. 

This is in Soller, one of about a dozen beach/mountain towns we happened upon while driving down the coast of the island. No instructions, we just drove and found everything hassle free!

This is the Fiat Panda (A european brand of car. Fiat might just stand for "Fix It Again Tony" because the car was so low quality that the reverse didn't work. Jarrad was the one of the three of us who knew how to drive a stick, so me and my friend here Allison had to push it down the mountain, out of parking spaces, in the middle of windy Spanish island roads, etc. 

My friend Jarrad and I after being in the FREEZING cold Mediterranean...so amazing. Also just to the left of this photo would be a huge purple jellyfish, like the kind you see on National Geographic probably for killing people, was swimming right next to us. 

Me diving into the Mediterranean. A nice British couple fishing befriended us since we were all freezing in the water, and so they volunteered to photograph us! 

Just a few feet off our hotel is this beach. Which was an amazing hotel for about 12 US dollars/10 euro per night, way cheaper than any hostal I've stayed in yet and so much nicer! 

My friend Allison and I, our first day on the beach in Magaluf, right near Palmanova.